Eternal Rhapsody
by The Slum WhoreAngel
Summary: One year has passed since Vegnagun was defeated. But someone brought Shuyin and Lenne back. Who is the myserious girl Yuna keeps seeing? Is there more evil behind this all then anyone could imagine? (RxG.PxB,TidusxYunaxShuyinXLenne Triangle)
1. Weather Problems?

Hello everyone! Yeah I'm coming out with a new fic so you better sit back and relax! Oh I know I know. The horror! Hopefully it'll be over soon.  
  
I got this idea from a friend (Hiya Rikku!) and I just wanted to state that our fics are completely different and that I did not copy hers nor did she mimic mine. No use of plagiarism was used here so don't bug me about it! Now that that's over...  
  
Thankies a bunch to everyone who inspired me to write this especially Dreamy and Rikku. Dreamy for putting up with Shuyin and Yulie. And Rikku for rocking hard! You both are, as they say in Zanarkand: Totally awesome!  
  
If you haven't finished the game, or just don't like spoilers I'd advise you not to read the beginning, for it does contain many spoilers. And this fic does contain a few spoilers so...yeah. But hey! It's your choice! You want spoilers? You got 'em!  
  
Standard disclaimers apply. Please enjoy this fic!!  
  
~*~*~*~*~*  
  
[]= Al Bhed translation  
  
'' = Thoughts  
  
++++ = Scene change  
  
~*~*~*~*~*  
  
LennexYunaxShuyinxTidus  
  
GippalxRikku  
  
BaralaixPaine  
  
NoojxLeBlanc  
  
~*~*~*~*~~*~*~  
  
Eternal Rhapsody  
  
Chapter One: "Weather Problems"  
  
~*~*~*~*~*~~*~*~*~*~*~~*~*~*~*~~*~*~~*~*~*  
  
The ocean's depths were dark and murky, not even the bravest of men ventured to its eerie depths. It seemed if you entered the water it would destroy you mercilessly. But as two ocean-blue optics flickered open, it seemed not to mind the darkness that surrounded it.  
  
A slight grin was etched across the figure's face, illuminated by Pyreflies that seemed to appear from nowhere. The higher it swam to the surface, the wider the smile on its face grew.  
  
When the figure finally surfaced, it inhaled a deep gust of cool ocean mist. Seemingly glad that its lungs were able to intake sweet oxygen once more. After being trapped in the Farplane for two years, I would think so too.  
  
Wiping the water clear off his face, the blond haired man looked around with a clueless look upon his calming features. As his gaze darted around the area, from the clear blue sky to the endless waters before him, his smile now was effortless.  
  
Placing two fingers to his lips, he blew outward with force, allowing a whistling sound to echo across the bay. Now that he knew he had been heard, he leaned back and took a few moments to enjoy the endless canvas that was the sky.  
  
'Much better' he thought, closing his eyes for a few moments.  
  
Retreating to his original upright position, he grunted and started swimming towards the shore. Once he arrived, he turned around to see a rather large flying machina heading his way. Though he was unsure of what it was-he assumed he knew who it was carrying.  
  
As the airship drew near, his assumptions were proved right. After dodging a wave that seemed to have been directed purposely at him, the most beautiful woman he had ever seen ran came into view.  
  
As she hurled herself off the ramp that had been lowered from the massive airship, her smile practically reflected off the ocean.  
  
The blond haired man grinned at the woman's excitement. As she drew near he started walking towards her and accepted her hug as she threw her arms around him. The embrace felt almost natural to both, something they had wanted for two years was now being completed.  
  
As the woman pulled away, she expected to see kind features that welcomed her, features that would make her smile and laugh. What she got instead frightened her. Instead of the welcoming look he had given off at first, his bright gaze was deadly and he came off as a bit more mature than before. His features now rough, and his hair a darker shade of blond.  
  
As the woman ripped away form his grasp, she stumbled backwards and fell onto the shallow sandbar. She gasped; causing everything around them to disappear in replacement was an endless void of darkness. He man simply let out a low and dangerous chuckle as he strode towards her with a grin plastered on his face.  
  
"G-get away from me!" she pleaded, using her hands to scoot backwards.  
  
A dark chuckle was all she got in response, nothing that implied he was going to consider her words in the least.  
  
"Please! Who are you!?" the woman cried again, eager to get something out of him.  
  
"My dear," he responded, faking a hurt tone of voice. "Don't you recognize me?"  
  
Her multi-colored optics widened as his masculine voice echoed through the cold surroundings.  
  
"S-Shuyin...?" She stuttered, gaping with horror.  
  
"It's because you wanted to see me again isn't it?" he replied, not confirming what she had thought.  
  
"What are you talking about?" she gasped.  
  
But before she got an answer, she felt herself being pulled into his deadly grasp once again. She tried to wriggle herself free, but his grip was too strong compared to hers. As he wrapped his arms around her, she clamped her eyes hut and tried to make this horrible nightmare go away.  
  
"It's okay." He whispered, stroking her hair with one gloved hand. "I'm here now. Everything will be okay."  
  
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*  
  
"Yunie will you hurry up already!?"  
  
The brunette was shaken from her daydream that had once been a dream as the call of a familiar Al Bhed echoed through her mind. As she returned to reality she remembered what she had been doing out here on the cliff anyway.  
  
Rikku's birthday celebration.  
  
That's right, the quirky AL Bhed that everyone loved was turning 18 that day and she had forced everyone in Besaid to attend her birthday celebration. She, of course, had organized everything herself and made sure she didn't miss anyone. After all, less people meant less presents right? Well that's how she thought of it anyway, a rather optimistic/pessimistic point of view. After all this is Rikku we're talking about here.  
  
"What's taking everyone!?" she cried, stomping around in a circle. "Drao cruimt ryja paah rana po huf!" [They should have been here by now!]  
  
Yuna sighed and looked over at he table that was set out on the edge of the cliff, lights and streamers were strung from tree to tree with a long picnic table set out in the middle of a clearing. Food was decked out upon the tablecloth that featured about a million Chocobos.  
  
Running her palm along the rough surface of a palm tree, she plopped down on the end of the table and sighed once more. She was excited and happy for her cousin, but in truth she couldn't stop feeling depressed. Something wasn't right, either that or it was her moon time again. She felt like dieing yesterday and this morning she wanted to bite someone's head off.  
  
"I'm not sure, Rikku." The gunner admitted, looking at Brother's poor attempt to make a potato salad. "Maybe they got lost or something."  
  
Of course Rikku was so not going to fall for that lame excuse. It was just like them, to forget something like this. Especially Gippal. Mostly Gippal. Knowing him, he probably would have missed the party just to piss her off. Though she was sure Baralai and Nooj (maybe...) would have gotten to him and forced him to come. That was good at least, but still something about the thought of Gippal not coming stung something inside of her. Something she really didn't like.  
  
"Yunie? This is Wakka, Lulu, Gippal, Nooj, Baralai, and Paine we're talking about here! Not the entire city of Bevelle!"  
  
"They're probably busy then," Yuna suggested, looking at the blond form the corner of her eye. Things had been busy lately and the three most important men to Spira's culture would be the most assiduous.  
  
"Either that or they don't wanna come!" a familiar voice mocked, grinning wryly at the Al Bhed.  
  
A small smile crept across the ex-summonner's face as she heard his voice from behind a tree. She had spent so much time with him that the thought of him being gone was nothing more than a dream to her.  
  
"Oh shut up, Tidus!" Rikku snapped, glaring at him with frustration. Even on her birthday he was messing with her, the little sister role was starting to get on her nerves. Though everything lately was seeming to annoy her. From the way Yuna spoke to how many Flans' inhabited the island, all was rather irritating in her point of view.  
  
Putting on a forced smile every morning was also something that aggravated her beyond the point of annoyance. She just wasn't her usual self. Maybe it was because the thought of being split up had saddened her, or maybe she wanted Paine back. The thought of her sitting inside all day like a secretary wasn't really normal.  
  
"I was just kidding kiddo," he insisted, ruffling her golden locks of hair.  
  
"Eh don't do that!" she cried, trying to fix her hair in the way it was before the blitzball player had messed it up.  
  
Who could blame her? It would probably take me hours to do my hair that way; if someone messed it up I'd probably strangle them to death.  
  
"They'll be here Rikku." Yuna assured, rolling her eyes at the two. "I'll make sure of it."  
  
It was had to believe year had gone by since the brutal defeat of Vegnagun, Yuna could still picture Lenne and Shuyin fading off into the Farplane together. It made her happy they could help, but somehow made her saddened. Jealous even. This wasn't something she could explain though.  
  
Every night since then she had slept with that round sphere that gave off a dull blue light, as sphere that once held a brilliant spirit. A sphere that at one time served more of a purpose than a decoration on a bedside table, a sphere of memories. Lenne's sphere. The songstress dressphere was something she'd always treasure.  
  
Along with those memories, she had gained valuable friends and the reunion with her love. Tidus had been more than a friend to her ever since she had met him. And even now he was the same old person she had met in the Besaid Temple.  
  
And that was the way she wanted it. Everything was...perfect. Well, at least she thought it was.  
  
++++++++++  
  
"Go you damn Shoopuff go!!!!"  
  
"It's not going to go any faster if you hit it or yell at it, so shut up."  
  
"Aw Nooj what do you know?"  
  
"A lot."  
  
The three ex-Crimson squad members hadn't really planned on Rikku's party, nor riding a Shoopuff to get there. Yet somehow it had come up in their plans.  
  
Baralai had been rather busy preparing for some ceremony he was to attend that had something to do with the joining of Spira's leaders. To say the least he was more than busy.  
  
Nooj was also making preparations for their joining and was scheduled to meet with an Al Bhed about their recent agreement. Supposedly Bikanel Island was to be the group's main headquarters, for what reason was beyond him.  
  
And Gippal? Well he really hadn't been doing much of anything, if sitting back and relaxing counts as anything. He had tried and failed to think up an excuse to go to 'Cid's girl's' party. Right now he really didn't wasn't to see her. Recently he had been thinking too much about her. Most likely the problem.  
  
In the end all of them had decided to pay the Gullwings a visit, seeing as it would do no harm.  
  
"I don't care what you say I'm getting this frickin' thing to move faster!!" the leader of the Machine Faction hollered, kicking the Shoopuff on it's side.  
  
Baralai grinned at Gippal's pathetic attempts to speed up the stubborn animal, for of course it was useless.  
  
"You're going to upset it," he warned, outstretching an arm to show emphasis. Gippal snarled in response, debating whether to bite it or not. "It's an animal. It doesn't have feelings."  
  
Baralai sighed and focused his attention to the mountain that lie east of the Moonflow. He wrinkled his nose slightly as he caught wind of a curling black rising form the area of Guadosalam. 'Smoke?' Of course this was impossible, well not really impossible just unethical. Why would there be smoke in Guadosalam?  
  
The white haired praetor shook his head and looked back up at the mountain, only to find the smoke gone. 'An illusion perhaps?' Of course the Meyvn and the leader of the machine faction hadn't been paying him any attention. Both were either too absorbed in getting the Shoopuff to move, or trying to stop getting it to move. Which is rather confusing when you think about it.  
  
"I said go you demon from hell!!" the Al Bhed roared, sinking his fist into it's back with as much force as he could input. But of course, the Shoopuff made no movement except a sound that was close to a sneeze.  
  
Nooj rolled his eyes at the youth and started to speak. "I told you it wouldn't w-"  
  
"YAHOO!!!" Indeed Gippal had succeeded in speeding up the animal, now it was shooting itself through the water like a bullet. Baralai laughed as Gippal waved his hands above his head with excitement. All Nooj had to say was:  
  
"Brats."  
  
+++++++++  
  
"I said run!!!"  
  
"I'm not going without you!"  
  
Raging flames surrounded the once peaceful Farplane Glen as painful shrieks and cries echoed through the meadow. Trees twisted themselves into knots as sweltering heat waves threatened them with an angry growl, changing their appearance to that of an ugly twig. The appealing flowers that once dotted the elegant field had been transformed into to dangerous infernos, setting ablaze to the nearest flammable object. The flower itself seemed to be wrenching with pain as it curled itself up into a black weed then burst into flame. A dark cloud of black had settled over the sky that had once held chromatic twists of color, making the place of peace seem like a death trap.  
  
The two figures running about many others seemed to fear the worst. Being separated wasn't something they were about to go through again.  
  
"Lenne if you don't get out your spirit will perish! Don't you understand that!?" the blond man cried, shaking her absurdly.  
  
The brown haired songstress bit her lip and held back a sob, gaping at the fact of life or death. "I do." She nodded, touching his arm slightly. "But your spirit is at stake as well, Shuyin! I don't want to lose you again."  
  
"Lenne I-"but before he could finish his sentence a shrill metallic sound thundered through the area. The couple turned their heads to see a shadowed outline of something arising from the far hill. It's presence almost caused both to fall into a state of shock, but both were able to resist it.  
  
"Run." Shuyin demanded almost angrily, shoving Lenne in the opposite direction.  
  
"I won't leave you, but promise you won't forget me." He said assuring her, he too on the brink of tears, something very rare for him.  
  
Lenne wanted to cry her eyes out, she wanted to shake her head and stay there with him forever. Bound by destiny as a few others in the Farplane had said, always making her laugh. But now she couldn't laugh, it was a sin to laugh in a situation like this. It was so deadly, so painful to others that it could wipe out an entire world. She closed her eyes and nodded.  
  
All she said before running away from the massive creature was, "I promise Shuyin. I promise."  
  
+++++++++  
  
"Oi!!! Lu, he did it again!"  
  
"Wakka babies do these things, you know that. Don't get angry at him for it," the black mage scolded, picking up the one year old from the sandy ground.  
  
"Well ya could have kept him away from the blitzball, ya?" Wakka suggested, giving his wife a look.  
  
Lulu returned the deadly glare and shrugged Vidina to a higher point on her side. "He's a child Wakka. If he ruined your blitzball get a new one, it isn't that big of a deal." She spoke in her firm yet kind tone of voice.  
  
"Ya I know," the blitzer agreed, laughing slightly. "Sorry kiddo." He ruffled Vidina's bright red hair that had grown measurably since he was born.  
  
With a shake of her head, the ebony haired woman shifted across the beach and sat down on a wicker chair with Vidina squealing in her arms.  
  
"Strange weather, ya?" Wakka inquired, looking up at the swirling black clouds that lay overhead.  
  
"Indeed," Lulu agreed, stroking her son's hair. "We haven't had a good thunderstorm in quite a while."  
  
"I meant the clouds Lu." The man muttered, annoyed that she hadn't really comprehended what he had meant. Then again, no one really understood Wakka's words or meanings. Rikku was probably the only person who could translate everything he meant to say, or said but not in the right terms. Sort of a twisted speaker you could say.  
  
"So did I."  
  
"Look at the way they're shaped though. Strange, ya?"  
  
"I suppose they are a bit odd for Besaid." The dark haired woman nodded. It was true, Besaid rarely got clouds that looked like this. In fact, Besaid rarely got clouds all together. Any that they had received were either blowing in from Kilika or simple fluff clouds.  
  
"To me, they'd look odd everywhere."  
  
The swirling masses of dark, puffy pillows that loomed over the island seemed to stretch out for miles on end. Vibrant streaks of blood red and violet lined the inner core of the clouds, while striking blue and black coveted the outside. Each cloud was mounted together by what looked like a sliver fog, if one where to get high enough to engulf themselves in it the density would appear to be extreme.  
  
The strange thing about them was the fact that they appeared to have a mind of their own. Any sliver of light that made its harmonious appearance in the sky would instantly be swallowed by the nearest cloud. The sun had been swallowed by what looked like a whirlpool in the air, tossing clouds together in a spiraling motion so that it blocked out the sun completely.  
  
"Maybe we should head up to the cliff now..." Wakka said uneasily, scrambling up the sand dune towards Lulu.  
  
She merely rolled her eyes and nodded. Whatever was up with the clouds certainly wasn't normal, it wasn't accidental or caused by nature either. Something was causing those clouds. But...what?  
  
~*~*~*~*~*~~*~*~*~*~*~~*~*~*~*~~*~*~~*~*~*  
  
Fwee! I hope you like that chapter, even though it was a tad short. All the work on this plot has been done carefully and everyone who was involved with it is really happy I'm sure.  
  
Well read and review! I have to go kill an annoying pigeon!  
  
+~+Songstress Yuna Diamond+~+ 


	2. Painful Hallucinations

Thank you all for the lovely reviews! You're all so nice and...nice. Heh. Yeah I'm bad at wording things I know.  
  
//Charmed Amber\\  
  
You really think so? Well I will be updating this...obviously and I'm glad you like the story. By the way you get a plushie of your favorite character for being the first one to review this! Er-who's your favorite? ^^;;  
  
//SPHeRe HuNtEr RiKkU\\  
  
Hiya Rikku! *huggleglomps* I'm glad you like this too! Like I said I wouldn't have been able to do it without you! I hope you continue yours as well! It's really good! Thank you sooo much! And Gippal stop being stupid.  
  
//aer-seph4eva\\  
  
AHHHH!!! One of my favorite authors reviewed my story! I am so...so honored. *bows* Yesh I have become a great fan of Shuyin+Yuua as well! Actually I've always loved that couple and finally got my friends to like I after reading YOUR fics! Anyone who hasn't read them-better! They rock! Yeah but you have to continue that one you were going to make a one-shot. I swear you have to. I'm through now, thanks again!  
  
//craZy18gurl\\  
  
You really think it's that good? I've written better...trust me. I bet you all know that already though, considering the poor quality of this fic. But thank you for making me feel better!  
  
Well thank you again for the reviews! I wouldn't be continuing without them! Actually I probably would so...  
  
~*~*~*~*~*  
  
LennexShuyinxYunaxTidus  
  
GippalxRikku  
  
PainexBaralai  
  
NoojxLeBlanc  
  
~*~*~*~*~~*~*~  
  
Eternal Rhapsody  
  
Chapter Two: Painful Hallucinations  
  
~*~*~*~*~*~~*~*~*~*~*~~*~*~*~*~~*~*~~*~*~*  
  
The sound of Rikku's fingernails against the table was nothing short of intentional . The trio had been waiting for people to arrive for over forty- five minutes now and it seemed everything around them had stopped, boredom was quickly settling over the cliff. It was evident on their faces as well as in the unusual movements they made. Yuna's head was down on he table, her hair making a curtain around her face-yet she appeared to be asleep and drooling, Tidus was banging his head on a near-by palm tree as if attempting to knock down a few coconuts, he succeeded only once, and Rikku of course was drumming her nails against the wooden table with a blank look in her swirled green eyes, even a squatter monkey that had joined them was face down in the dirt.  
  
Flattening her smooth hands against the table, she wrinkled her nose and stood to her feet. Why didn't they come? Where were they, did they not like her or something? I mean, she was never the most popular of the Gullwings but still at least some people liked her-right? Usually she wouldn't have been this sad about anything, she would have gone strait to the Celsius demanded Shinra to let her use the commsphere, then find where they were and yell at them. But today she wasn't in much of a hyper yelling mood. All she felt like doing was crying her eyes out and watching something on SV.  
  
The blond girl let out a sigh and started down the hill, keeping her head down the whole time. She decided waiting would make her even more depressed, something she had been experiencing for a while now. Her cousin automatically was revived form her 'I'm asleep go away' state as soon as she felt the air next to her rise. Tension rose in the gunner as she stood to her feet, hoping to encourage the blond o wait a little longer. It was weird they hadn't come yet; it was supposed to start two hours ago after all.  
  
"Rikku wait!" her cousin pleaded. "I'm sure they'll be here..." It was no use, Yuna couldn't think of a thing to say to console her friend. Some cousin, nothing she said would make Rikku feel better. The last time she had felt this bad was when she was a kid. Cid had grounded her and Gippal for going out into the desert to look for machina alone, of course Brother was grounded as well.  
  
As she plodded down the side of the mountain along the island, she too caught wind of the odd-looking masses that loomed above her. Though she wasn't as interested in them as Wakka or Lulu, so she simply bypassed them with no consideration what so ever. She managed to pass the nearest waterfall and ruins while keeping her composure, but broke down as soon as she reached the village.  
  
"Whoa. Check out the water-works,, ya?" Wakka noted, pointing to Rikku. The couple was just about to head up to Rikku's gathering when the Al Bhed came flying down the hill in tears. Lulu sacked him with her free arm and lead him back towards their home where Lulu's friend Amora had been cooking for Rikku's party.  
  
"She's probably upset no one is here yet." The black mage explained, glaring at her husband. "Leave her alone for a while. The last thing she needs is us fussing over her."  
  
As she tumbled into Yuna and Tidus' hut, she almost fell flat on her face. Thus giving her more of a reason to cry. Flopping face down on the bed she was able to restrain from throwing a fit. She was sick of being a baby, sick of being the innocent one. It was strange how Yuna was the one that was always squalling yet everyone stilled maimed her as the childish baby. Though she couldn't really blame them, it was true in a way. She as always complaining and making everyone else feel bad if something she expected to happen didn't. Inside they all knew she meant well, but to herself she wasn't being very helpful. Maybe she should have been worrying about others rather than herself. Her friends had been kind enough to consider coming, getting mad because they didn't wouldn't solve anything. After all-it was just a stupid little birthday party.  
  
What ever it was that broke the dam inside of her was beginning to fade, unsure as to why she was crying in the first place. Stress could be the one to blame. She had been so worked up about everything lately, though selflessness wasn't the main center of attention she /wanted/ everyone else to be happy.  
  
Maybe she just needed herself to be happy, to be relieved of the burden placed on her shoulders. It seemed, like the younger sister thing, the role of 'Cheer Everyone Up Girl' was growing old. But she didn't want to let anyone down, she had to try. She had to be stronger.  
  
+++++++++  
  
"Poor Rikku," the brunette sympathized, gazing in the direction Rikku had gone. Yuna had noticed Rikku's sadness lately and blamed herself for putting too much pressure on the young Al Bhed. She too felt helpless like this at times.  
  
"She'll be okay," Tidus assured, putting his banging to a halt. "I know her, she's stronger than she seems." Yuna agreed and linked her arm with his.  
  
Of course Rikku would be all right, hopefully. Everyone had a tendency to underestimate her. It wasn't fair to either of them that they were both so stressed about things like this. She sighed and looked up at Tidus. He grinned back at her, hoping she would quit being sad long enough for them to have at least /some/ fun.  
  
Yuna swallowed hard, for that smile he always gave her was working its wonders again. The smile he had that would make any /girl/ do any/thing/ he wanted her to. The intense sensation she got whenever 'he' was around was stronger than she ever would have imagined. She remembered...remembered what it was like to be alone. She had a negative feeling that stirred within her that day, that day that shattered her world into a million pieces. She could re-call the painful feeling of her consciousness reducing itself to an endless expansion of white. Nothing remained for her but sadness and a solitary life on a small island.  
  
It was the kind of feeling you get when everything you had lived for has been torn away from you. Like getting your heart ripped out and trashed, hidden beneath a pile of Chocobo wings. She knew the he wasn't coming back, the second he disappeared into the empty voids of darkness that bared the name: Farplane. She knew he was never going to hold her again, or make her smile and laugh. She would never hear his voice again. But she had been wrong. That battered corkscrew that had been wedged into her soul had been pulled free the day they rid Spira of Vegnagun.  
  
But now everything was all right, she no longer had to worry about the weight of Spira on her shoulders. Between every restless interview she was forced to attend, and every fight she was forced to deal with-he was there with her. That smile she was hesitant to put on every morning, so fake that it used to cause her pain, was fading into something real. Just touching her arm sent violent shivers up her spine.  
  
Tilting his head to the side, the blond haired man noticed the woman next to him was taken from reality. He was used to Yuna's constant daydreams and thoughts that wandered aimlessly through her mind like a river, he had learned to accept it. That was one of the many things he loved about her. Particularly her innocent, oblivious demeanor.  
  
"You alive?" he joked, waving a glowed hand rapidly in front of her face.  
  
Her crystalline eyes shifted their empty gaze upward and gained that lively look they always held. She nodded, smiling slightly at the fact she had slipped off into her dream world again.  
  
"Hey guys!" Rikku called out, waving her arms frantically in the air. Determined to crawl out of that baby shell and become stronger, she had resorted to false happiness.  
  
"Mood swings again?" Tidus assumed, laughing sheepishly at the Al Bhed. It was amusing how she was in tears one moment, and the next calling them, like nothing had ever happened.  
  
"Apparently so..." Yuna replied with the same tone of uncertainty.  
  
The bouncing ball of energy giggled and jumped up into the air, hoping her act was good enough. As suspicious as it was-it would have to do for now. If anyone knew she felt even the slightest bit discouraged about anything, it was pity time.  
  
"I'm sorry about...you know," the brunette apologized, looking down at her boots.  
  
Rikku blinked and let out another precipitous giggle, oblivious to the look that Tidus was giving her. The kind of look one gives a person when they are close to certain that they are either insane or extremely deranged. "No Yunie! No!" she cried, hugging her cousin. "I should be sorry for all that I put ya through. I was being really bitchy ya know?"  
  
Tidus had to restrain laughter; Rikku noticed this and glared angrily at him. Tidus simply shrugged his shoulders and snickered lowly. The hotheaded Al Bhed grunted and stuck her tongue out at him, getting the same action in response. Their silent war was corrupted by a rather abrupt shriek coming from behind them.  
  
"Why would they becoming to Besaid?" a short redheaded girl asked in a hushed whisper. A similar girl with long silver hair shrugged her shoulders and looked around nervously.  
  
"I don't really know, but I hear they're getting here soon! All three of them!" The redhead gasped and stumbled backwards. "That's right all of them! Meyvn Nooj, Praetor Baralai, and Master Gippal!"  
  
Rikku snorted with astonishment clearly evident in her voice tone. "Master Gippal? They're /not/ serious. Master Gippal of the Kingdom of Annoyance maybe..."  
  
"Maybe they're here to see Lady Yuna," the silver haired girl suggested. "Maybe."  
  
Rikku wrinkled her nose. Why couldn't they consider the fact they /weren't/ here to see her cousin. She loved Yuna and all, but couldn't help but be jealous of her. She had it all, everything she didn't have anyway: Beauty, fame, love, and happiness. Though we all know Rikku had all that too...well except fame maybe. But hey, they were coming! They hadn't forgotten about her after all!  
  
"You here that Yunie!? Rikku asked, not giving consideration that she had eavesdropped. "They are coming after all!"  
  
"Who?" both Yuna and Tidus asked in unison. Unlike their friend, the couple hadn't been paying much attention to the people passing by, there were too busy having their own conversation about the clouds. Much like Wakka and Lulu, who had decided to wait in their hut after all, they found the weather quite intriguing.  
  
'Gippy, Nooj and Baralai!" she explained, her face glowing with sheer excitement. "I heard it from those girls over there...er-nevermind."  
  
"If you say so Rikku..." the blitzball player muttered, stalking off in the opposite direction.  
  
"Oh shut up you nerd! The blond retorted, pouting in a childish manner. "Sometimes he really gets me mad." Yuna grinned and patted Rikku on the shoulder, giving her a sympathetic hug. "Sure Rikku. Sure." "WHAT?"  
  
Yuna snickered and walked after Tidus, shaking her head, leaving her cousin standing there with a scowl.  
  
+++++++++  
  
Around the same time, Gippal Nooj and Baralai had managed to make it to the island of Besaid. No thanks to Gippal's solution to the speed of all Shoopuffs. No doubt the Hypello would be eternally grateful, they showed it by offering an odd shaped cheese to the group. Nooj had hesitated; Gippal could have sworn he was about to do an inspection when Baralai saved him the trouble by taking the reward with that usual smile of his.  
  
The race of blue tainted people (thingys...) had offered them a ride to Besaid on Tobli's boat. Without asking, they had taken it and allowed the group to take it all the way to Besaid. Though neither of them could get the machine to work. Gippal stepped in once again and got them to Besaid faster than you could say 'I have a Chocobo eating drake in my pants.'  
  
Knowing Gippal, after coming to the rescue twice, big-headedness was sure to infect his brain. That is if it already hadn't been overwhelmed with the satisfaction of being right over Nooj for once.  
  
"Who's good? Who's good? Who's good? Who's g-"  
  
"If you value your life in the slightest you'll stop." Nooj commanded in his oh-so-normal tone of voice.  
  
"Nooj, it isn't his fault that he is rarely right," Baralai defended, smiling at Gippal.  
  
"You know the sad thing is I think he's serious." Nooj retorted, blinking at the ghastly haired praetor. Gippal scowled and stepped on Nooj's good foot.  
  
Nooj hardly flinched from the impact against his foot; Gippal really wasn't as strong as he came off to be. Well, not compared to Nooj anyway, they weren't alike enough to compare anyway-unless stubbornness is in terms of things in common.  
  
"GIPPAL!!!!!!" came shrill voice from around the corner of the beach they had been patiently walking along. The tall rocks to their right blocked whoever was calling the leader of the machine faction, but they all recognized that untamed voice. A few moments later a thin blond stormed around the corner, her swirled eyes dyed the color of an emerald were blazing with fury.  
  
"Uh oh..." Gippal muttered, setting of a snicker from his two accomplices.  
  
'WHERE HAVE YOU GUYS BEEN!?" Rikku cried, throwing her hands up in the air, the familiar hint of anger lacing her high-pitched voice. "I mean, does it really take that long to get here and co-"  
  
"We're sorry Rikku." Baralai interrupted, giving her a reassuring smile. "You see we had problems with a Shoopuff, thanks to Gippal we got here. He was really eager to get here you know."  
  
Rikku made a face and quirked an eyebrow at the blond Al Bhed. "You...were?" Suddenly she felt her cheeks warm up to a heat that would have cooked eggs if you had cooking talent. Why was she blushing? She had no need to, did she? She certainly hoped not after all, she did know who Gippal was. Gippal! That annoying little brat who used to get her in trouble all the time, blaming everything on her and still to this day making fun of her. What was to like? Nothing, right?  
  
Spinning around to hide her face, which had already flushed to the point where she was sweating like crazy, she snorted rudely and rolled her eyes.  
  
"Give me one reason I should believe you!" she snapped, now working on hiding her surfacing grin. The other men stumbled backwards at Rikku before she laughed. "Come on," she said. Grabbing hold of two out of three of their hands. "Let's go!"  
  
++++ Bevelle ++++  
  
"I'm sorry Praetor Baralai isn't here at the moment." A young woman in a lacy white robe bowed respectfully to the stranger who stood calmly before her, glowering down at her as if she was the choice between life and death. "He will return in a few weeks or so, I apologize."  
  
The figure nodded and continued along the road that lead assumingly to the Bevelle Temple. A dark hood the color of blood was draped over its head, concealing any attribute that would give away it's features. A thin hand the color of honey draped itself over the railing, its owner gazing out at the city that lay before it. With a disoriented shake of its head, it continued up the path until it managed to slip inside the temple undetected. Some guards, eh?  
  
Priests in robes and other people that served within the temple were lingering about, bypassing the statue of Lady Yunalesca that darkened the passage. The flickering blue flames that were lined up along the hallway were dancing about, littering Pyreflies across the misty floor.  
  
The figure seemed to ignore the surprised looks others were presenting to it as it walked by, having no concern for the others that resided here.  
  
As the unidentified being reached the main hall, its gaze shifted upwards to the lift that was on it's way down to the floor it was currently on. Inactively, it stepped onto the glowing piece of machina and rode it to the highest floor. Upon arrival, it looked around hesitantly and scurried down a hall that was scattered between many confusing ones that looked similar.  
  
When the end of the hall came into view, a rapid moving emblem that was sealed across the wall began glowing immediately. It stopped when an arm that matched the color of the hand reached outwards and placed its palm flat against the cold stony surface of the seal. Ever so slowly it parted and revealed a darkened chamber that was lit by Pyreflies.  
  
Drawing back, the figure gasped then took an uneasy step into the room, listening as the seal closed behind it. In the center of the otherwise empty alcove was a table, a simple table made of some sort of material. As the figure neared the center of the room the Pyreflies disappeared from existence and the room became deadly silent.  
  
Obviously not frazzled by the creatures and their odd movements, the figure lay something across the table and nodded. Turning back around it seemed almost saddened as it looked to the floor. A single tear fell to the ground as a shaking gasp escaped its lips.  
  
"I hope you will not have to use this. If you do, I am sorry for his actions." The secluded voice uttered, unable to define the gender because of it's tone.  
  
With its final words, the cloaked figure looked up to the ceiling and disappeared in a void of Pyreflies.  
  
++++Besaid++++  
  
"-HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO YOU!"  
  
The final chorus of Happy birthday had just ended and a very proud looking Rikku stood in the center of the village before a long table. She beamed and shot a gust of wind outwards, watching as he candles puffed into smoke as she blew. The crowd of people erupted into laughter and clapping, Tidus was whistling actually, as he Al Bhed stepped back to admire her work.  
  
"Aw Rikku!" Tidus complained, rolling his aquamarine eyes with annoyance.  
  
"What?" Shrieked the girl who had just become 18 moments before. Everything had been going great since Gippal and the rest of he group arrived. Rikku's day had been brightened up as well as her confidence in herself and others. She no longer had any need to be jealous either. The two girls who had assumed Yuna was the one they were to visit had given her a rather nice present and had been longing to talk to her all day.  
  
"Now we can't eat it!" he replied, starring incredulously at the pastry Rikku had been standing over.  
  
"And why not?" she retorted, folding her arms over her shoulders and shifting her weight to one leg in a snappish manner. "It looks perfectly fine to me."  
  
"You spit on it Cid's girl!" Gippal, now hooting with laughter, answered her.  
  
"I have a name you know!" she cried, stomping her left foot into the dust. "Use it!"  
  
"Sure Cid's girl," Gippal mocked, still not over his laughing fit.  
  
"Ack! GIPPAL!" Rikku screeched. She jumped off the bench she was standing and ran towards Gippal.  
  
"Nuuuuu!!" he shouted, starting to run away from her as she rapidly gained on him. The female Al Bhed got hold of Gippal's shirt and forced him onto the cobblestone ground, he cried out and struggled to stand. Successful, he started off towards the beach, flailing his arms like an idiot. Rikku didn't stop running either, she chased him until both were out of view of the crowd.  
  
"Think it's safe to let them go off alone?" Nooj joked flatly, folding his arms as well.  
  
"They're fine." Baralai assured, starring after them as if a herd of Chocobo's had bitten everyone's head off then started dancing to 'We Are Family'. But we all know Baralai's imagination isn't that interesting. He sighed and slipped back into the crowd along with Nooj, undetected.  
  
Yuna giggled and waved to her cousin shouting: "Good luck catching him! He's fast!" as she disappeared up the hill. Rikku gave her: "Don't worry Yunie! I will then I'll kill 'im!" back.  
  
She was so absorbed in the Al Bhed's antics she didn't hear Tidus sneak up on her. When he approached, she jumped with surprise than glared angrily at him for startling her like that. Tidus shook his head and slipped his arms around her waist as she began scolding him on doing something so 'immature'. The blond however wasn't really paying attention to her lecture, needless to say he never really did. He had even begun to think that she had a book of lectures to give on what things and when to give them. Sometimes he found it kind of creepy. Especially when he was right.  
  
Forcefully kissing the woman's neck, he snorted slightly at her nagging. Yuna stopped and rolled her eyes. "If you're trying to get off the hook you're doing a good job." She muttered. He ignored her and continued kissing her until she eventually gave in. Yuna turned around and freed herself from the man's grasp, which had weakened; pursing her lips together she sighed and rolled her eyes once more.  
  
"What?" Tidus asked, shrugging his shoulders innocently. "I didn't do anything!"  
  
"You have a guilty conscious," she explained, slinging her arms around his neck.  
  
She pressed her soft crimson lips against his and kissed him softly. Tidus pulled back and quirked a bored eyebrow at her. The gunner merely wrinkled her nose at his expression and kissed him again, this time harder and longer. The whole time she had to resist the urge to smile. This was the life she had wanted to live for such a long time. This was the life that had been waiting for her for eternity, the one she was meant to live out. With 'him' by her side. Everything was...well perfect right?  
  
Somewhere in heart there was this feeling telling her it wasn't right, something wasn't right that is. She felt a twinge of nervousness Tidus pushed her against a palm tree. Letting out a surprised moan, the woman ran her hands through his feathery blond hair-not being able to stop her smile this time. Usually her feelings were correct as well as the horrible ones she always got before something bad would happen.  
  
The clouds overhead must have thought so as well for that instant lightning thundered through the sky, lighting up the ocean so one could see deeper than usual. She would have jumped if it weren't for the current situation she was in.  
  
Perhaps she was being paranoid about things. It had been a year and so far nothing was going wrong, why should it now? She was about to ask Tidus about it when a blasting pain shot through her arm, sending a message to her brain that pain was growing somewhere in her body. The woman lurched forwards and fell to the ground; Tidus was able to keep her from cracking her skull by grabbing her arm.  
  
"What's wrong?" he asked frantically, worry etched plainly on his tense features.  
  
"M-my arm!" she cried, gripping it with all the energy she had welled up inside her. "It hurts..."  
  
Tidus leaned over just as another vehement shockwave of heat shot through the veins tunneling through her body, causing her to lurch forward again. The agonizing sound she was making had frightened him slightly. What was wrong with her? She had been fine a few minuters-er-seconds rather, ago.  
  
The fervid heat that was wrenching through her arm had grown about twice as much and was now paining her to even make the slightest movement with it. Digging her lengthy nails into her sun-warmed flesh, Yuna was able to stand with the help of her friend.  
  
"Let's go." Tidus instructed, giving her a worried frown while pulling her back to where the party was at full force.  
  
Yuna nodded in agreement as she made a motion towards the hill where Rikku had gone. The pulsing and throbbing of both her head and arm was making her extremely dizzy and she needed to lie down as soon as possible.  
  
They were able to sneak past the partygoers and into their tent where the duvet had been messed up thanks to Rikku. Setting Yuna down on the cot, the blitzer placed an arm on her shoulder as she lowed her head against the pillow that was backed up against the wall.  
  
"What happened?" he asked once she had calmed herself down to the point she was able to communicate.  
  
Taking a firm hold of her supposedly injured arm again, she swallowed and let out a slight gasp. "I don't know..." she admitted truthfully, intertwining her fingers with each other.  
  
She was about to speak up again when something flashed before her eyes. A haunting image that chilled her beyond what a normal human would call fright.  
  
A girl stood in the doorway, woman rather, for she looked about 21. Her long hair was the color of a filthy rag and her eyes were hollow and empty. What probably used to be a hairpiece was strung lifelessly through her stringy tresses weaved down passed her ears. Her skin was the color of ashes but somewhere past that was warm tan skin with various scratches and bruises littering her arms. Her face was scarred with burns and gashes sealing her eyes halfway shut, a large bruise crushing her nose inwards. Dried blood stuck aimlessly to her forehead, gluing her hair to her face.  
  
Yuna was petrified and clamped her eyes shut, hoping to block out the image as it moved closer. As she did so they became worse. People and other forms of life that looked like they had been killed then revived painfully were sprawled across her vision, clouding her eyes. Cries and screams echoing through her ears as if tempting her to go insane right then and there.  
  
"Stop!" the ex-summoner pleaded, clutching her head. Tidus looked up and sat down beside her, wrapping an arm around her shoulder. Pleading for her to inform him what was wrong, he didn't even notice Nooj and Baralai enter the hut.  
  
"Lady Yuna!" Baralai gasped upon entering. The praetor furrowed his eyebrows and sat down on the opposite side of the brunette, his eyes straining to see what was happening. "What's wrong with her?"  
  
"I don't know!" Tidus explained what had happened, the whole while pulling Yuna closer to him as if protecting her from some invisible threat.  
  
"Lady Yuna are you alright?" Nooj asked recliningly, more or less concerned than Baralai.  
  
"Please stop!!" she shouted, not bothering to answer the red clad Meyvn.  
  
The images were getting more horrific by the minute and had paralyzed her to the point where she was shaking uncontrollably. She had never been so frightened about something so simple in her life. To any other person, it wouldn't have been as painful or frightening for that matter. But it seemed, to Yuna that she had experienced this somehow before.  
  
Shouts of anger and hurt were blocking all sound from entering her ears, curses and pleading among the withered cries. With every sense of hatred and every shout of profanity, her composure was crushed even further.  
  
"Stop it! Please just stop!" she cried again, doing her best not to lose it in front of her friends. The second she asked, everything stopped. Everything completely cleared out of her mind and was erased to a blank sheet of white. Before she was brought back to reality she caught a sound coming from all around her.  
  
"I'm sorry. I really am." it insisted, sincerity within its alluring tone. "Please forgive me for hurting you and inflicting so much pain on you all. I deserve nothing less but to die, but you shall have to take that fall for me. And I'm sorry."  
  
The last thing Yuna heard before blacking out was Tidus' voice, telling her something was wrong.  
  
~*~*~*~*~*~~*~*~*~*~*~~*~*~*~*~~*~*~~*~*~*  
  
^_^ Cliffhanger! In a way...anyhow! Another chapter, another poor pigeon killed. Our problem is really getting better with every gunshot. O_o Ehehehe...Though I do feel bad for them. Kind of. Please read and review! I hope you liked this chapter...  
  
+~+ Songstress Yunie +~+ 


	3. A Collision

Urk-hello! Thank you once again for the very nice reviews, better than last time in fact! Though I have been very busy with school since summer va- cay is coming up and all, I'm luck enough to update at least once a week or so.  
  
SpHeRe HuNtEr RiKkU  
  
Gippal honestly! And I did review but it didn't show up for some strange reason, it says I can't do it again because I've already done so once! sigh Hopefully you'll be able to concentrate in school now!  
  
kingleby  
  
Thank you! How very kind of you to say that. A lot of people like GippalxRikku I see...  
  
aromatherapy  
  
I AM continuing! giggle I'm glad you like this story idea; like I said I wouldn't have been able to do it if it weren't for Rikku! tackleglomps Originality=good. Thanks!  
  
Charmed Amber  
  
Thank you so very much for the compliment! I try to focus on characterization, but sometimes it doesn't come out quite right. And I'm glad you liked that chapter, hopefully you'll like this one as much!  
  
craZy18gurl  
  
Another 'love' comment. huggles THANKIES! Can't think of anything else to say except thanks for all your support guys!  
  
aromatherapy  
  
Glad you liked THAT chapter too! Heheh. I forget to do things like that too, don't worry.  
  
Today's culture of the day features the wonderful, adorable Hypello! So in response to your reviews (which I loved SO much) I: Shank yoo?  
  
I don't own Final Fantasy X-2 (sob) or anything related sadly. I own this fic and that is all right. I do not wish to be sued though...!  
  
Enjoy the chapter; popcorn is located in the lobby along with refreshments and candy. Now where'd that chocolate go...  
  
LennexShuyinxYunaxTidus  
  
GippalxRikku  
  
PainexBaralai  
  
NoojxLeBlanc  
  
Eternal Rhapsody  
  
Chapter Three: A Collision  
  
"Get back here you freak of nature!" Rikku hollered, sprinting after the Al Bhed that ran before her.  
  
Gippal managed to get a few yards away from her while she was busy trying to figure out which path he hade taken at the fork in the road. As he turned down one leafy path, he was able to catch snippets of insults that Rikku was hooting at him, most of which were beyond inappropriate. With an overruling leap over a small gorge that was wedged between a crystal clear waterfall and a highly elevated cliff, he screeched in a Chocobo-like way. The female heard the sound and darted down the left path, determined to catch him and teach him a day's worth of lessons. As she came to the same gorge, she was faced with a problem, as she wasn't tall enough to jump over without falling. Wrinkling her nose with frustration, she stomped one boot clad foot and groaned.  
  
"No fair Gippal! I can't jump that far!" she complained, scowling angrily. "You get back here and help me!"  
  
The crevasse was about eight feet wide and was meters down under the sandy underbrush of the tropical forest. A rotting log with wildly growing moss was strung effortlessly across the pit. Vines and branches seemed to block any other path there was around the ravine, grinning evilly at Rikku. The teenaged Al Bhed looked up from gazing within he depths of the gorge and waited anxiously for a reply. When there was none she rolled her swirled green eyes and tried again.  
  
"Gippy will you get back here and help me?" she cried, pouting her creamy lips. The only response she got this time was the screech of some distant Seagull. "Oh I'm gonna hurt you now!" she muttered to herself, rolling up her belled sleeves.  
  
Running back for a head start, she went over if she should do this or not. Due to her stubborn nature, she decided on giving it a try, even if the odds of her making it over were zero to none. She began to run towards the ravine, slowly at first, and then got faster as she neared it.  
  
"You can do this, you can do this." She chanted to herself, a grin playing across her immature features. But the closer she got, she became more unsure of herself. "You can do this, you can do this. gulp YOU CAN'T DO THIS!"  
  
With the biggest leap she could manage, she hurled her body over the crack in the land and fell head first into a boulder wedged on the other side. With a scream of terror, she grabbed the first thing she saw, that being the rough edges of the fissure. Gripping the soft grass the poked out from the ground above her, Rikku shut her eyes and held on for dear life.  
  
"Help!" she cried, hoping someone would hear. But she was in the middle of the Besaid jungle; no one would hear her, much less care. "Oh poopie..." she groaned, biting her lip.  
  
Gippal, of course, had been watching the girl the whole time and panicked when she made the fall. He could feel the rush of adrenaline surge through his bloodstream as he leaped out of the tree he was in.  
  
"Hold on Cid's girl!" he reassured, making his way down the water line to the spot where she had fallen.  
  
Rikku's forest green eyes popped open in surprise as she heard Gippal coming towards her. Had he been there that whole time? Oh well, she would kill him for that too later. If she didn't die first that is. Looking downwards while still trying to keep her hold, she came to find the pit full of growling Coeurls. Each were lashing out happily at her, opening their arms to her-their dinner. Letting out another terrified shout, she adverted her gaze back towards the cloudy sky.  
  
Gippal found Rikku holding on for all she was worth at the edge of the ravine. Gritting his teeth, he bent over and grabbed hold of her arms. "Don't let go!" he insisted.  
  
"No kidding!" Rikku snapped. "Or would you rather me say: Oh lets just let go and fall into the pit of angry fiends why don't we. Real smart suggestion doncha think?!"  
  
How could she still be sarcastic with him now? He was trying to save her! Sure she got on his nerves, but still he didn't want her to die. That would be possibly the worst thing to happen in his life. After all, 'Cid's girl' did mean an awful lot to him, even though he didn't like to think about it.  
  
"Are you just going to let me die?" Rikku asked with actual fright in her voice, breaking Gippal free of his thoughts. "Because if so I'll be sure to haunt your ass first!" she added shakily.  
  
"Rikku will you shut up and calm down?" Gippal pleaded, glaring harmful daggers at the younger Al Bhed.  
  
Rikku was astounded, literally in shock. 'Did...did he just call me Rikku?' For the record, he had never called her anything along the lines of something respectful. Making up childish nicknames for her was fundamentally his job, along with making her blush like crazy. In 14 years, of calling her Cid's girl he finally called her by her real name.  
  
"A little help here! Force yourself up Cid's girl!" he demanded, this time breaking /Rikku/ free of her subconscious.  
  
The girl felt a small portion of sweat gather at the back of her head when he called out his command. 'So much for that...' she thought, doing as he ordered her to. With a loud grunt, he was able to hoist her up onto the moist grass- a welcome sight for Rikku.  
  
Gippal expected a thank you, or something like that instead what he got made him even more annoyed with the girl. "You jerk!" she snapped, throwing a rock at his forehead.  
  
"What!?" he cried, stepping backwards from the enraged woman, avoiding the rock. "I just saved your damn life!"  
  
Rikku scowled and picked up another rock, making another threat to catch him and feed him to the Coeurls. Gippal took this as a warning and started running again, panting heavily as Rikku shot after him.  
  
The two Al Bhed continued in hot pursuit until they reached the beach. The luminescent sun that had been out until the clouds gave way gave the sand a toasty feel on Rikku's bare feet, seeing as her boots had fallen off when she was dangling over the edge of the chasm. With a powered force, Rikku shoved Gippal into the muddy banks of the ocean.  
  
"Hey!" he shouted, wiping the brown gunk of his face. "What was that for?" Before Rikku could reply, he had grabbed her legs and dragged her into the mud.  
  
"Jerk off!" she accused, throwing a ball of mud at Gippal's hair. "How dare you!"  
  
"How dare /you/!" Throwing an identical wad of fused sand at her, he chuckled to himself and ducked underwater to avoid another slat in the face.  
  
Rikku dove under and kicked him in the shin, watching as he resurfaced like a piece of toast. Exploding into a fit of giggles once she caught sight of him, jumping around in a circle, she toppled backwards and grabbed her throbbing side. "You /so/ deserved that Gippal." She growled once she had gotten over her laughing fit.  
  
Wading through the water, she stepped onto the sand beach and rung out her scarf which was now soaked in mud. Gippal stopped howling and looked up at Rikku who was now focused on her stringy blond hair that had also taken a toll from the dirt.  
  
She was caked in mud head to toe, her hair looked like a birds nest, her scarf looked more like a wet dog's tail than a clothing accessory, and her skirt had a rip up the side. And he loved her more than ever. Sure, he would admit it to himself, that being pretty much all. It had happened last year when he saw her in front of the Djose temple. She seemed so different before, like a completely different person.  
  
Perhaps it was just the fact he had always liked her a bit that triggered within him that day, or maybe just the fact she had grown so much. Whatever the cause, he had found himself falling for Rikku headfirst. It may have sounded like a song lyric or something, but it was true. He would have told her before, but rejection wasn't something he could face at the moment.  
  
Shaking his head clear of thoughts that revolved around 'Cid's girl' he growled angrily at himself for once again thinking about her. At least this time Baralai and Nooj weren't there to catch him doing so, boy he hated that.  
  
"I think we should head back now," he started, but stopped when he found that Rikku was nowhere to be seen. "Er-Cid's girl?"  
  
"Gippal!" came her shrill voice. "You better get over here...and fast!"  
  
Guadosalam  
  
"Move to the right please. Move to the right." The guard that had been currently ushering residents out of the small Spirian town, stopped to look back at the Chateau that was built in the center of the village.  
  
Growling flames licked the outside of the building as terrified women in pink uniforms scrambled out, stolen gil in hand. A man in green ran out shouting something along the lines of 'The boss is inside'. With an abrupt lurch towards the headquarters, the guard began to bang on the outside of the door.  
  
'Everyone is to get out of here as soon as possible' Tromell had ordered earlier. Supposedly some mysterious character in a red cloak had visited him the previous night and spoke of some threat in the Farplane. Though he didn't really believe it, he followed Tromell's directions directly. After all, the fire had been so sudden and all. What /could/ have caused it other than something in the Farplane?  
  
Earlier that Morning  
  
It had been a normal morning in Guadosalam, well for most anyway. The members of the LeBlanc Syndicate had been used more work than usual due to certain emotional issues with their leader. Lets just say LeBlanc hadn't been in the best of moods since her little 'Noojy Woojy' disappeared from her sight. Otherwise, every race residing in the catacombs of Guadosalam were sedately content. The fire had started so suddenly that no one, besides Tromell, as expecting it.  
  
The two men that stood before the teetering gates of the Farplane were alarmed at a horrific sound emitting beyond the gates that many through the years had passed through. Being held responsible of the protection of the sacred grounds was one thing each of them had in mind that morning. Shrieks and whistled curled through the air, sending chills down both of their spines.  
  
Gripping the pistol that was harnessed to his side, the first guard turned abruptly to his partner. "'You 'ear dat Adriel?" he questioned, fingering the trigger carefully.  
  
"Yeah I hear it. Think we should be checkin' it out Gavin?" Adriel replied, taking the role of the obliged guard.  
  
Gavin nodded, giving his friend approval for further investigation of the strange sounds. He helped Adriel open the gates, listening, as the sound appeared to be getting louder with the metallic sound of the gates being opened. As the view of the Farplane drifted into view, along with it came the darkened silhouette. Its massive size was enough to frighten the two guards beyond imagination, but it's glowing red eyes put the finishing touch on their fear.  
  
Within the roaring flames, it's quavering shape headed towards their current location, bringing with it the growing fire.  
  
"What in Yevon's name is that...?" Adriel directed, staggering backwards.  
  
"It's huge whatever the hell it is." Gavin confirmed, not entirely sure what the shadow was either.  
  
"Maybe we should you know...turn back?" Adriel suggested, edging backwards.  
  
Gavin snorted in response. "Gimmie a break Adriel. What could a ding like dis do? Ish just an illusion or somethin'"  
  
But Adriel wasn't so sure about what his friend thought. It may have been a mere illusion, but it still gave him the creeps. Not to mention this odd feeling that stirred within him. Where had that...thing...come from? And why was the Farplane on fire?  
  
"Gavin let's go tell Tromell-"Adriel started, but Gavin cut him off.  
  
"And what? So he can hog this baby all to himself? Who knows what dis ding could be? It coulda, you know, make us rich! It does look like a machina in a way ya know. And Al Bhed pay millions for new machina!" He exclaimed with greed.  
  
Adriel gave him an uneasy scan, for he didn't really like the idea of being burned to death for gil. With a scrutinizing glance towards the inferno, the light haired man nodded and headed down the inflexible path.  
  
"Heh, heh." Gavin snickered, following his fellow employee down towards the veil. The sound of rushing water pooled over them and made both wonder how a fire could have started anyway.  
  
"Are you sure we should be in here?" Adriel muttered, scratching the back of his head nervously. "It is a sacred ground. Bad things happen here to intruders, man."  
  
"Man do you gots to be such a wart sometimes? We 'ain't gonna get caught so chill out! I mean wh-Oooh!" Gavin stopped and flinched in pain.  
  
"What's wrong?" Adriel asked calmly, blinking down at the man before him who had begun to grasp his finger desperately.  
  
"Bloody thing," he mumbled, glaring up at the figure that no longer shook either of them. "Some rock flew from its direction. Probably threw it at me or somethin'" He laughed.  
  
"Dude that's not funny." Adriel stated, scowling at his friend. "Sometimes I really hate you."  
  
He had no idea of knowing those would be the last words he ever said to his best friend. With a scowl at the still laughing guard, Adriel shoved past him and got closer to the crackling inferno. He was about to attempt to call out and communicate. Whoever was controlling it couldn't be seen since its appearance was nothing more than a shadow, but was interrupted unanticipatedly.  
  
The forbidding creature had stopped wrecking it's havoc behind the concealment that separated the Farplane from the real world, and almost grinned evilly at them. Adriel found this impossible and once more labeled it erroneously as an illusion caused by the fumes. Machina couldn't smile, for they had no feelings. Right?  
  
It's beast-like form let out a piercing metallic sound quite similar to nails against a chalkboard. The two men veiled their ears, hoping to protect their hearing from the appalling sound. Within seconds it had gotten so close, shooting fire and painful bullets at the town beyond the gates and at the two men.  
  
"Run Adriel!" Gavin urged grabbing his friend with such force it began to swell almost instantly. But Adriel wouldn't move, his cold grey eyes were fixed on the advancing shadow that looked like a misaligned wave within a sea of fire. "Adriel COME ON!"  
  
Still no response.  
  
His friend had fallen into severe shock.  
  
Could something like that really be that frightening? It didn't seem all that scary to Gavin, but the emotions welling up within the lighter haired man were stronger than ever. Fear, anger, pain, sadness, and rage drowned his consciousness, and bathed it in darkness. A riot of Pyreflies shot up from nowhere and plunged themselves into Adriel's side.  
  
"Adriel I-Noooooo!!" Before Gavin could finish his sentence, the creature fired at the pair, sending them plummeting to their death.  
  
Present   
  
From there the fire had spread to Guadosalam, baking everything into crisp ashes. Several more guards had been called in to take the place of the two that had been lost, ushering crowd of panicking people outside to the Thunder Plains.  
  
Breaking down the door to the Chateau, the guard scurried inside and darted up the stairs. With a lively shove, he forced LeBlanc's door open and stumbled inside her bedroom. By then, chunks of foundation had begun to crumble from the ceiling and plummet to the ground, taking gripping flames down with it.  
  
"Hello! Is anybody in here?" he called, cupping his hands over his mouth to prevent inhaling the smoke.  
  
A blond woman came stomping up to him, not really impediment about the fact that her headquarters were on fire. In fact she looked as if she were to riotously strangle the guard with no cares what so ever.  
  
"What do you want?" she snapped, placing her hand on her hip with the other flapping a maroon fan wildly.  
  
"Er-ma'am. It is my duty to esc ort everyone out of the town right away and insure your safety. If you haven't noticed the village is-"  
  
"Yes I know it's know fire!" she growled, attempting to slap the man across the face. Failing miserably in the process. "I'm not that stupid, love. Now just...just go away and leave me here to die! There's no use in living with my Noojy Woojy gone missing again."  
  
"She's being a drama queen again," a tall voice commented from the hall. "We'll take her."  
  
The tall slim man strode over, followed by a burly man with a mocking face. The larger man lifted her off her feet and straddled her outside and down the stairs.  
  
"Put me down you fool!" she ordered, flailing her arms wildly. "Logos help me down! Ormi /put/ me down!"  
  
"But boss! You woulda died in 'ere! You don't wanna die do ya?" Ormi asked, struggling to haul the frustrated woman out the door.  
  
"I should hope not." Logos, who was a few feet ahead of the two, muttered.  
  
"Of course I do! Now you imbecile, Put. Me. DOWN!!"  
  
Of course, LeBlanc eventually gave in and allowed herself to be taken to the lightning shelter in the Thunder Plains along with the rest of Guadosalam. The three main members as well as the lesson important branches stood off to the side of the crowd, watching with amusement as frazzled people ran around crying.  
  
"Poor loves..." LeBlanc muttered with mockery in her tone. "There goes what's left of Guadosalam."  
  
"Dey could make a new Guado place." Ormi suggested, blinking at the hysterical people. "Then dey could burn that one down too! Hohoho!"  
  
"What kind of dumb ass idea is that?!" a She-goon cried, kicking Ormi in the side. "You're gonna make LeBlanc mad so shut up!"  
  
Ormi scowled at the woman and tried to kick her back, only to fall flat on his face that was covered already with mud. LeBlanc wasn't even paying any attention to her followers, she was thinking to herself about a few things. Like the Farplane incident as well as where Nooj could have gone off to.  
  
'Maybe he's trying to find out what happened as well?' she thought, placing a finger to her lips. 'Of course he did! That's what Noojy does! Now all we have to do is find him.'  
  
0-0-0-Besaid Island-0-0-0  
  
Faces.  
  
So many scarred, tortured faces. The tortured souls and pain that built up on her was overpowering, therefore causing her to pass out. She couldn't take it. Couldn't take the pain and suffering that came along with the visions. It was too much for her to handle, brining her down instantly. Who was that hideously deformed woman she had seen in their doorway? Why was she there, mocking her with that mangled grin?  
  
Shuddering, Yuna looked up to see the faces of pretty much everyone. Lulu, Wakka, and Vidina had wriggled their way into Yuna's presence, looking down at her with sincere concern.  
  
"So you have decided to awaken?" Lulu noted, pulling her son closer to her motherly body. "Are you alright?" Yuna nodded, closing her eyes slightly.  
  
Tidus increased the embrace he was currently holding Yuna in, and began to stoke her hair softly. Nuzzling the side of her head, he tried to calm her pulse, which was still racing a mile a minute.  
  
"Well if you're alright we'll get back to making dinner..." Lulu muttered, dragging her husband, who hadn't said a word but 'bye!' out the door. "Watch out for the weather."  
  
A soon as the couple left, the questions immediately started pouring in. "What happened?" Baralai asked, sitting down on the cot.  
  
"I-I don't now!" Yuna cried, wiping away a sheltered tear from her puffy red eyes. "It's like, someone else's emotions were somehow...transferred into my body or something. That raw feeling of emptiness was so..." Yuna broke down into tears again, clinging to Tidus like a leech.  
  
Baralai blinked and laughed nervously before uttering a 'sorry' under his breath.  
  
"Everything was so intense. It was like my feelings burst into a thousand Pyreflies and just disappeared from existence, leaving me alone. I felt so much sadness. Heartache, pain, sorrow, fear, anger...so much anger. And he faces, those unbearable images just kept getting more and more graphic. I just couldn't take it." She explained once she had recuperated. Scooting so close to Tidus that she could feel his heart beat against her own quavering ribcage, she buried her head in his chest and began muttering something that was hardly audible.  
  
"Yuna...you're not making any sense." Nooj pointed out, narrowing his eyes with impatience. Baralai understood a little bit more and patted the gunner on the back hoping to aid Tidus in the calming of the sea of emotions raging within her.  
  
"I'm trying!" she shouted suddenly, taking all three men by surprise. Her tears chocked back her voice, causing it t quaver off pitch with each word. "I just need to be alone for a while..."  
  
"Alright Yuna, alright." Tidus understood, shushing her to silence.  
  
He watched sadly as the woman stood to her feet, nearly losing her balance twice, and hobbled over to the bedside table. He watched as she secretly snatched the dull blue sphere from the table, and tucked gently into her satchel. With a weakening smile, the woman turned back and waved before heading through the flaps that separated the rest of Besaid from their home.  
  
"Be back soon." She uttered, running her still shaking hands through her short chestnut locks of hair.  
  
0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0  
  
As Yuna plodded up the tedious trail that winded up the mountain, her thought began to wander back to that mistakable image that had been following her for the past ten minutes. Shaking her head as a languid attempt to clear the sempiternal visions form her already scrambled mind, she took the opposite path Rikku had gone. Just before she reached the magnificent waterfall, she stopped and clenched her fists-allowing fresh blood to pool over her knuckles.  
  
The burning sensation that ripped through her heart was getting stronger. She began walking faster now, thorough the trees and under the ruins until she reached the deserted part of the western beach. She couldn't take it anymore; her emotions were taking over again. She fell to them, bowing to their iniquitous will, giving in to all the thoughts that were clouding over her. But instead of fear, which she expected, or passing out she felt mad. Horribly angry at everything and everyone. Her rage was overpowering, it was unlike anything she had ever felt before. Un-human. For a second she felt almost...dead.  
  
Why was she so mad all of a sudden? Of course she should be mad considering everything was so confusing now. People were always acting like she was someone worthy of respect since they had nothing better to do with their wasted little lives. They practically worshiped the ground she walked on and praised her every feature, giving her lame compliments for a chance to be within the presence of 'High Summoner Yuna'. She was indeed growing tired of the immature little games the people of Spira were playing.  
  
They deserved so much worse. All those tortured souls had been through far worse to insure their happiness, and for what? For them to celebrate one of two things. The triumph over a war or a conflict between themselves and some 'evil force', or the triumph over winning but losing thousands of lives in the process. They didn't seemed to care who died along the way, as longs as those filthy little rats were happy.  
  
Had she actually been willing to serve those sinful people? Was she actually at a time in her life, willing to die for the sake of her world? Afterwards, no one would care that she had sacrificed her life for them, as long as they were safe from the wrath of Sin. Fighting and arguments had solved nothing either. The conflict between the political parties of Spira proved this. War was completely and utterly useless in terms of happiness and joy. Something no one in this cruel world deserved.  
  
Maybe she should have fed Spira to the devilish wrath of Vegnagun after all. Then would they learn how wrong they were? Would they finally see all the pain and suffering everyone went through in each fight that Spira was involved in? She shouldn't have done anything for them, at all. They didn't deserve it. They deserved to die.  
  
Yuna's eyes flashed open almost instantly at horror of her own nefarious thoughts. She saved Spira for the good of everyone! They /did/ deserve it! What was she thinking?  
  
Grasping the Zanarkand Abes insignia that was crested upon her chest, smearing blood all over the front of her halter-top, she had to once again choke back materializing tears. With a large gasp, she leaned over and watched helplessly as vomit poured in a steady stream from her mouth. Mixed within was shapeless blood that had come from nowhere, just the sight of it before her caused her to throw it up again.  
  
She didn't just think that, she couldn't have. There was no way in hell that she could have thought something so...so...evil! Had she really thought that? She didn't! She loved Spira and everything about it, the people, the culture, the race, and all of Spira's beauty. There was no way she thought that. It was just her imagination over-reacting because of that image she had seen. She hadn't thought that at all.  
  
Of course she had. For that insignificant portion of her life she had sunk so low as to think that Spira deserved nothing. She had thought that. It was all her, no one had forced her to think that. It was all her.  
  
Wasn't it?  
  
Half sobbing wistfully, she hobbled down the waterfront, stopping every few yards to throw up another horde of blood and stomach fluid. Clutching her stomach desperately as the sickening girl returned to mind, she finally rested at the edge of a tide pool.  
  
Hoping to stop the mind-consuming feelings that were leaving her grief- stricken, she cautiously retrieved the blue sphere from her side bag. It's sapphire tint left her hands with the same blue color that bounced off the sphere. The cobalt clouds overhead somehow welcomed her into their arms and made her feel a lot better than she had just a few moments ago.  
  
"I'm okay. Not hurt. Not alone. I'm okay now..." the ex-summoner murmured softly, stroking her lips with her finger.  
  
Pulling herself to her full height she jumped half-heartedly off the dark rock and skidded down a small sand dune to where the sand met the water, gliding her boot line through the foamy waves. In her hand lay the sphere of the songstress she knew so much about. But wasn't able to see. Then she noticed it.  
  
Something strange about the sphere that had served no more or less of a purpose than a paperclip. That morning when she had awoken she felt the dull glowing ball of drained energy against her bare flesh, cooling her from her previous night's nightmare.  
  
It was...glowing? It shouldn't have been doing that; it stopped glowing after Lenne went to the Farplane with her love. It lost its brilliant glow, it's everlasting light. Why /was/ it glowing?! She wanted to know, she wanted to understand. How could something so stupid as a glowing sphere make her so confused and annoyed?  
  
"Lenne? Lenne are you there?" she shook the sphere, hoping to find something. "Lenne!! Lenne please! Someone please! Help me!"  
  
With each plead and each cry, her persistence grew stronger. Something wasn't right here, everything around her was unstable, it had been that way since that morning but she hadn't seen it due to her own blindness. She should have felt the strong presence when she saw that face in her doorway. Something wasn't right.  
  
Running down the beach line, she shook the sphere violently yelling at it with anticipation rising through her bloodstream and into her mind. The harder she shook it, the faster she ran, and the faster she ran the more she lost focus.  
  
She couldn't concentrate and she fell, tripped over something on the sand. With a squeak of surprise, the brunette fell headfirst into the ground, her nose coming in contact with a shell of some sort.  
  
"Ouch..." she murmured, rubbing the spot on her nose that had received a bruise. Looking down she saw that it was not a shell, but something else. "A...belt buckle?"  
  
She lifted the small piece of metal and examined it closely, a small engraving was carved into the back but it was too smeared for her to read. 'But who's...' The woman turned around and looked distantly at the sand before her, a gust of wind swept up from the ground and blew into her face. She furrowed her eyebrow when something else floated with the wind, something that /wasn't/ sand.  
  
Tilting her head upwards again, the sight before her nearly scared her into shock. Who? How? Why? It was all too confusing, all too strange. She wanted to cry and scream and shout all at once. The familiar unsteady emotions returned as her hands began to tremble uncontrollably.  
  
She tried to blink it away, but it was there. This wasn't some dream she could wish away with the fluttering of her eyes or the calming from a sphere. This was her life, something she was destined to live out. This was all reality.  
  
And she couldn't make it go away.  
  
0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0 I hope you liked that chapter as well! I was going to make it longer, but I knew you guys wouldn't want to suffer through all of that. So! I cut this chapter in half Is it just me or are these chapters getting longer? ;;  
  
Well please read and review!  
  
Songstress 'High Summoner Yuna' 


	4. Discovery One, Two, Three Check!

**Hello everybody! I apologize for the long time it took me to update but I've been really busy with exams and stuff for school. But now since my concert is over and school's out, I'll have more time to update!! If Aeris doesn't hog the computer for printing out pictures of Cloud again... Okay before I start the fic, you guys just...rock! Thank you sooo much for the lovely reviews I knew I wouldn't be here without them. Thank you so much!**  
  
_Aromatherapy_  
  
You got the message! Good I'm glad when people get what I'm trying to do. Keep reading!  
  
_Kate Willows_  
  
Thanks aroma! Tee hee! Yay! Someone else likes this couple too! I'm glad because I've decided to make a little twist in couples that will make a lot of people hate my guts.  
  
_Kate Willows_  
  
Gippal/Rikku so far is my most popular couple! == Don't worry Yushin will come...  
  
_SpHeRe HuNtEr RiKkU_  
  
Rikku. You are far too good at guessing things. Do you know that? It was obvious though so I don't blame you at all for thinking that. No I do not want to see Nooj when he's angry...heheh...  
  
Yu Yu: I'll beat 'im to a pulp if he touches Shuyin or me!  
  
_Charmed Amber_  
  
Don't we all? The problem is this thing I call writers block.  
  
_Rinoa21_  
  
Rinoa is great! Okay so thank you very much for the kind comment.  
  
_shadowneko003_  
  
I appreciate your support! And here's the next chapter!  
  
**Okay so here's the part where everyone throws tomatoes at me for my stupid idea that I got from my stupid friend Milly. Sorry Mills, you were being too Ichigo-ish.  
  
Anyhow, she said that I should make this fic more of a triangle one than before. She gave me a ton of couples that I really thought was...strange and in the end I picked the ones that were semi-normal. The show will go on! Oh and yes I know this chapter is...short. VERY short. I did it to tick you off. Not.**  
  
,,,,,,,,  
  
Yuna/Tidus  
  
Yuna/Shuyin  
  
Shuyin/Lenne  
  
Lenne/Tidus  
  
Gippal/Rikku  
  
Baralai/Paine  
  
(See what I mean? hides from the tomatoes)  
  
,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,  
  
Eternal Rhapsody  
  
Chapter Four: Discovery One, Two, Three. Check!  
  
::::::::::::::::::::::::   
  
Perplexed blue optics followed the timorous woman outside the tent, not withdrawing it's sturdy gaze until she wound her up the mountain path.  
  
Heaving a solicitous sigh, Tidus' subconsciously ran his fingers along the asymmetrical bedding with no intention of confiding in the two men before him. A thick and unnerving silence fell over the unpretentious hut welcoming the awkward moment with open arms. Disturbed by the uneasy radiation each was creating, Baralai was the first to break the unuttered calm.  
  
"She'll be fine." The white haired praetor spoke, nodding in assurance. "She just needs time, I am not sure what actually happened to her after all."  
  
Generating a solacing smile that he had been known to create for years, the kinder half of the tag team whittled Tidus' shoulder. I guess you could say Baralai was delighted that the High Summoner had found a petitioner like Tidus. He was a respectable young man in the twenty one year olds eyes and could surely be trusted with even the most antecedent secret. It was hard to find qualities like so in people nowadays, for society had become nodular and insufficient.  
  
Shaking his head clear of the irrelevant thoughts that had begun to linger within his mind, the praetor chuckled at his moment and stood from his perch on the cot.  
  
"She's a strange one, but she isn't completely warped." Nooj murmured, hobbling rhythmically out of the housing.  
  
Tidus chuckled. "Thanks! I think..." In the year he had been back in Spira, his home, he had come to find that Nooj and Baralai were among the most confusing people he had ever met in his life. Often their inscrutable conversations would catch him off guard, so while the remainder of the group was laughing over something exceedingly funny he was sitting there with a confused expression.  
  
"He means well." Baralai assured, bowing before Tidus in a Yevonite fashion before exiting.  
  
"I need a vacation." Tidus muttered coldly.  
  
Flopping down inattentively, Tidus' thought returned to wondering the endless plains of his memories that were somewhat foggy now. Considerably, rest wasn't an unreasonable option nor was going out after Yuna. But she could be trusted; she wasn't a little girl anymore. Yuna wasn't the selfless summoner who led a life of solitary existence; she was still selfless but not completely without help. After all, instead of getting kidnapped by Al Bhed this time around she'd be arranging a meeting with her pistol for them.  
  
His assiduous and extremely restless nature was beginning to surface as he pulled himself back into an upright position with a sliver of light dancing within his eyes. Their clouded gaze drifted mindlessly to a pile of packages that were boarded up by the western wall of the hut.  
  
Allowing a malignant smirk to play across his features, the blond lowered himself off the bed and crawled over to the accumulation.  
  
"Rikku's presents, eh?" he pondered, lifting one of the boxes up and shaking it. "Heheheh...blondie's gonna have to wait for these."  
  
Just as Tidus was about jam them into the crappy mess that was Yuna and his bed, the underside anyway, a startling squeak broke him from his 'concentration'.  
  
Jumping approximately five feet in the air because of sudden surprise, his head whipped around so fast whiplash seemed reasonable. His muscles relaxed when he came to find the abrupt beeping was nothing more than Yuna's communicator. Furrowing his brow, interest crawled over him therefore leading to the investigation of the device.  
  
Poking it to make sure it was all right, he snatched it off the side-table and pressed the small button on the side. A shrill metallic sound was the response he got, as a flame appeared visible on the miniature sphere screen. The image changed to the face of a familiar Al Bhed with a frazzled look upon his face.  
  
"Uh..." Tidus uttered, blinking with confusion. "Brother...?"  
  
Brother wrinkled his nose in unadulterated disgust at the sight of the Blitzball player.  
  
"Fryd dra ramm?! Frana ec Oihy? Fryd ryja oui tuha fedr ran oui pycdy -" [ What the hell?! Where is Yuna? What have you done with her you basta-]  
  
Before the infuriated Al Bhed could finish his insult, an Al Bhed with glasses came up behind him and forcefully sunk his fist into his skull, sending Brother plummeting to the ground.  
  
Shaking his head in dismay, the goggle bearing Al Bhed managed to slip in a grin. "Buddy to the rescue," he said hotly. "Sorry about that bud."  
  
"Uh..." Tidus murmured again, not quite sure what had happened. "What?"  
  
"Never mind. Didn't call to chat anyway. Where's Yuna?"  
  
Tidus paused and thought about it for minute. Should he tell them about Yuna's sudden impulses, or would she rather him keep it a secret.  
  
{ I suggest you keep this a secret young man. There will be consequences if this gets out. }  
  
He froze.  
  
Who was that? Was he talking to himself, or was it all in his mind. Whatever it was hadn't shaken him too much; he had convinced himself that it was an illusion and no more. Still, the hoarse and almost strained female voice racked throughout his mind in a repetitive manner that refused to stop. Grunting out of annoyance, he grabbed the communicator and flopped stomach-down on the bed with it.  
  
"She's out. Why you askin'?" he inquired, quirking a suspicious eyebrow.  
  
"We've been getting some off frequency waves from all over Spira. The center spots being Zanarkand, Guadosalam, Besaid, and Bevelle."  
  
Rolling his eyes, Tidus looked back down at the screen and shrugged. Was it humanly possible for them to get a month's worth of piece without being bothered about things such as disturbances and robberies? They had done enough for Spira, yet the world still asked more of them. Sometimes he wondered how they put up with all the stress of having the burden of Spira on their shoulders. Rikku, Paine, Baralai, Gippal, and Nooj along with Yuna had all done their fare share for this world.  
  
Yuna would be upset about his careless decision, but something told him to listen to the voice and not say anymore. Though in the end it was more of his stubborn person that got the best of him and told him not to stay on the subject for much longer.  
  
"So what? I'll tell Yuna when she gets back, nothin' to worry about. Right?"  
  
"Well actually there's one more thing I forgot to tell you..."  
  
"Right! That's what I thought, later!"  
  
"No Tidus wait! I forgot to tell you the S-"  
  
beep  
  
Nodding with approval at his decision, he tossed the communicator in the air and caught it with no effort at all. As he was about to set it back down on the desk, he caught wind of something beeping on the lower half of the screen.  
  
Over-looking it quickly he made a face and re-read it out loud. It had been in ancient Spirian, a class she had taken in his years as a high school student in Zanarkand. Luckily, he still remembered how to read it. "Eastern Hallway. Front Panel. Fifth tower from the right? What the...?"  
  
It _sounded_ familiar, but he couldn't place why or how. Perhaps it was just a glitch, the message was hardly visible anyway because it was weaved in with the excess static.  
  
"It's from Bevelle," He pointed out to no one in particular, looking briefly at the returning address. Shrugging it off, he clicked the small piece of machina so it flashed off and retreated to sleep. "I need more than a vacation now..."  
  
{ Good night, sleep tight. Don't let my Pyreflies bite...}  
  
::::::::  
  
Hoping various rocks to get to Rikku, Gippal swerved his way along the tedious shoreline of the island. With his clothing damp from the water and the darkened clouds looming overhead, a chilling sensation ripped through his body. Shivering, he approached the blond who seemed to be in a state of mild shock.  
  
"What's up Cid's girl?" he asked cheerfully, jumping up behind her.  
  
She didn't reply.  
  
Rikku's blond tendrils of hair whipped her face violently as an approaching storm reared its wind upwards ready to strike, her multiple braids clinking wildly against each other. But she didn't move.  
  
Gippal edged towards her, carefully as if not to disturb a gentle slumber. His swirled green gaze drifted cautiously in the direction that the female Al Bhed had been starring into. His revealed orb widened in surprise at the sight that lay before him.  
  
A darkened cave that tucked itself under the overhead cliff lay in front of them, vines intertwined along the rocky outside with overgrown flowers. Within the cave the faintest speck of light could be traced from the luminescent Pyreflies that littered the floor, dancing about the gaping whole that dug its way into the ground. A low growling sound emitted from the gorge, reaching its dangerous claws out like a hungry shadow.  
  
"What is that?" Gippal uttered, now in the same state of wonder as Rikku with the same expressionless look.  
  
"I'm not sure..." Rikku replied in a dull monotone, shifting her balance way out of character so that she was more calm than normal.  
  
Stepping into the cave, Rikku apprehensively advanced towards the mysterious bowl in he ground. Gippal stumbled after her, losing his balance on an 'invisible' rock and tearing his way into a boulder. Rikku ignored Gippal's fall and peered over the side of the racked up dirt and down into the abyss.  
  
"Gippy come here quick!" Rikku cried, her energy resumed it's flowing through her veins as she jumped up into the air and waved her hands.  
  
"Ugh Cid's girl..." he started, but Rikku stamped her foot and scowled. "Fine, fine, fine."  
  
"Shut up Gippal and look at that!"  
  
He followed her orders and reluctantly looked downwards to see absolutely nothing. Pyreflies stretched themselves across the space into an endless oblivion, dancing softly then disappearing into nothingness. Gippal furrowed his eyebrows in confusion as to what had the Al Bhed so excited, even though it _was_Rikku he was still a bit puzzled.  
  
"What? There's nothing there genius,"he snapped coldly, even impatience within his voice.  
  
"Exactly!" Rikku exclaimed, jumping up again and bursting into a fit of giggles.  
  
"Look Rikku," he started, clenching his fists. There were times when he wanted her so badly, and times where she could be dangerously annoying. "Unless you can see more than I because of this patch, you're insane!"  
  
"Oh Gippy you only wear that because it makes you look cool. You could use the other one if you wanted to. And that's not what I'm talking about! There is nothing there! Don't you get it?"  
  
Gippal blinked. "No."  
  
"Remember that hole in Bevelle that Vegnagun made, and the ones Yunie's Aeons made after we defeated them?"  
  
"Yeah, what's you're point?" The leader of the machine faction grumbled, folding his arms across his chest. "Seriously Cid's girl you're usually not this blind..."  
  
"GIPPAL! I'm serious! This hole looks just like those ones, don't they? The large holey, the scary Pyreflies, and it just does!" she exclaimed, clapping her gloved hands. "But what is it doing here...?"  
  
Gippal rolled his eye as her halcyon optics gained their dilated thinking look, following up with Rikku putting a finger to her chin. "Cid's girl this is insane! How could this hole be like the others? They lead to the Farplane, this doesn't."  
  
"Or does it..." Rikku trailed off, looking up at the rocky cave ceiling. "Wanna check it out? It'll be fun, I'll even go get Yunie!"  
  
"No, no, Rikku listen." As he spoke her name she looked up, her arms dangling lazily at her sides again with her innocent appearance. Her disappointment was evident within her pouty pink lips and the way she twisted her hands nervously gave it away. Gippal felt the emotion dam within him break as he gave in to her secret yearning. "It'll be safer if we drop a commsphere in and watch it from the ship."  
  
"Yippee!" she cried, dancing around in a semi-circle. "Thankies Gippal!" She danced over to the dumfounded Al Bhed and abruptly threw her arms around his neck in an awkward hug.  
  
After digging in her side-pack for a few moments, she retreated and went back to the hole. Pulling a small blue device from her miscellaneous rummage, she held it up and grinned.  
  
"Shinra's new model of the commsphere! Lighter, smaller, and so much easier to install." She giggled in a tone worthy of a Lucan salesperson, shouting their way into getting customers.  
  
Standing on the tips of her boot clad toes, she carelessly tossed the machina into the void and listened for the 'clank' of it's landing. When she heard none her smile brightened and her movement became more rapid as she scuttled out past Gippal and back towards the airship.  
  
"What a freak." Was all Gippal could say.  
  
::::  
  
The metallic sound of machina releasing its inner heat ranked through Rikku's mind after she slid her cardkey into the crevasse between two security padlocks. The blinding lights that shone down from the interior of the massive ship, Celsius, cast their fluent light upon both Al Bhed standing on the metal ramp.  
  
Beaming, Rikku sprinted up the ramp and down the lengthy hallway into the elevator with Gippal in slow pursuit. Tapping the login panel with haste configured impatience arising within her carefree spirit; her temperamental side grew stronger.  
  
"Hurry up dumbass!" she demanded, banging her foot against the steel walls of the elevator as Gippal trudged half-heartedly towards her.  
  
"Coming bitch." He retorted with his own turn at profanity. Beneath his rough features was a blush that he couldn't risk letting out. Rikku chuckled in false mockery at his pathetic attempt of an insult, slamming her fist on the glowing symbol for bridge as he entered.  
  
Skipping into the chilled area that the sphere chasing syndicate operated their main commands, Rikku darted over to Shinra's chair that he had forbid anyone else to sit upon. Breaking the child's satirical rule, she climbed into the cushioned seat and furiously began typing away at the computer.  
  
The airship had been deserted since Shinra, Buddy, and Brother had just recently gone on a mission of their own: piloting a mini-pod and flying to Zanarkand-their search for the spot of the disordered frequency waves. Even so Rikku's delirium increased and she soon began to look hesitantly around the area as if hidden shadows were waiting to strike the young woman.  
  
"Cid's girl, breath. It'll help." Gippal advised with annoyance, rubbing his temples slowly. "Are you sure this will work, it is a new invention after all."  
  
Rikku was silent for a few moments as she continued scanning her thin fingers across decumbent keys, punching in different codes to install the commsphere. Suddenly her urgent typing subsided and the bridge became silent.  
  
"What happened? Don't tell me you actually listened to my advice and opened your mouth for air. At least you didn't open it to talk..." Gippal ran on, placing his hands on the railing of the stairs.  
  
"No. I'm not that insane." She murmured without looking up from the luminescent blue screen. "But I think you better come look at this too, and faster this time."  
  
Gippal quirked a delicate eyebrow with interest and straddled over to her, leaning on the chair's back he quickly ran his gaze over the screen and looked over what they were both viewing. Finally after about a minute, the blond was able to speak about this new discovery that was greater than that of the hole in the cave.  
  
"Oh my bloody Yevon."  
  
::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::  
  
**Well that was a short chapter that kind of focused on the two Al Bhed that everyone loves. huggles Rikku plushie Hope you liked it even though the length wasn't very satisfying, the next update WILL be longer I can assure you. Please read and review!!**  
  
Songstress/Lady Yuna 


	5. Throughout the ages

**Alcohol is bad for you...very, very, very bad...  
  
Anyway, I won't stall this chapter so you won't have to wait so long. Unfortunately I will be replying to reviews as always so I guess you will have to wait...I apologize.**   
  
Rinoa21  
  
Once again thank you! Don't worry Lenne will come in later in the story but Shuyin will come in...hee...very soon I think.  
  
aromatherapy  
  
Unfortunately this is PG-13 so no lemony stuff. giggles Rikku would kill you if she heard you say that, she's living in denial right now about her and Gippal. Calm down everyone Lenne and Shuyin will be in this story!  
  
SpHeRe HuNtEr RiKkU  
  
is glomped Oh! Rikku! I know after exams and the concert I'm surprised I'm even writing this chapter right now. It sucks though because I'm really tired...again...and I'm in San Diego. T.T  
  
Dreammergurl2007  
  
Thank you! I think...  
  
Dreammergurl2007  
  
I'm not trying to make you paranoid I apologize again. Hee, hee. But Rikku and Gippal will come later in the chapter so you'll have to wait longer...hee.  
  
Frittsegurl  
  
Thank you so much! That's very kind of you to say, I don't even know what to say myself _laughs nervously_. Well thank you again better finish these reviews before people get mad at me. What's your favorite character? I'll make you a plushie.  
  
Kate Willows  
  
No not at all! You aren't being the slightest annoying! I'm glad to have eager reviews! Don't worry Yushin will come like I said..._laughs nervously again_ That laugh was for a different reason.  
  
**I don't own FFX-2 you people should know that! If you accuse me of anything as low as stealing them for Square I will have Yu Yu chop you up and put you in a blender. Then I can feed you to the cat I'm getting Lulu for her birthday!  
  
_runs away laughing before anyone can hurt her_**  
  
,,,,,,,,  
  
Yuna/Tidus  
  
Yuna/Shuyin  
  
Shuyin/Lenne  
  
Lenne/Tidus  
  
Gippal/Rikku  
  
Baralai/Paine  
  
,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,  
  
Eternal Rhapsody  
  
Chapter Five: "Throughout the Ages"  
  
::::::::::::::::::::::::  
  
Yuna felt her lower lip quavering with uncertainty as she crawled over to the figure that lay motionless upon the damp beach. With bi-colored eyes, reflecting her twin cultures, she scanned the man once more and the blinked as if washing away stray piece of grain from her pupils. Try as she might the figure was there, lying on Besaid's corrupted beach with no intention of moving.  
  
As if out of nowhere, Yuna could feel the overwhelming nausea churn within her stomach, reaching its acid-like claws up her neck. Restraining the vomit from escaping her mouth, the former summoner clamped her eyes shut just as a cloud of red miasma began to obscure her vision. With a short gasp for the air that had begun to drain from her lungs, Yuna opened her eyes and looked to the dark sky overhead.  
  
"I can't just sit here I have to do something..." she uttered under her breath, holding back the death stirring within her body.  
  
Looking back at the figure, small taints of imperfection appeared as if they hadn't been there before. Along the sun-tanned skin that seemed to glow, long strains of blood danced about joyously with the other scars. Blood drizzled down a creased forehead, running into a half-open mouth.  
  
Cringing with disgust, Yuna edged over and slipped her arm around the man's waist and lifted him as far as she could.  
  
"I'll save you." She murmured absently. "Shuyin."  
  
Ending up by a near-by dune surrounded by tropical weeds sprouting up from the ground, she carefully lowered him to the ground with a faint 'thud'. Quietly muttering about his unusual weight, she cuddled him closer to a miniature tree.  
  
She was unsure why she was so determined to save this man; the feeling was strong over the others though. Was it perhaps that she saw her own Tidus in this man, although he was safely back at the village? Or maybe it was just because of all they had been through together even though they were only 'together' in a way. Whatever the reason she knew she couldn't walk away from anyone in danger, even if the sight of him made her queasy.  
  
White magic was never her specialty either, but she had to admit it was one of her strong points. Coveting one of his many wounds with her delicate palm, she could feel the energy running into him from herself. For a brief moment a connection unlike any other she had ever felt was lit inside her, making her shudder with delight.  
  
She found herself looking aimlessly at him with dilated pupils. His well- built frame was sculpted with such perfection, assuring any girl to swoon and cry, his soft locks of golden hair fell lazily into his face, caressing the even softer skin. Though his eyes were shut with an assuring sadness, Yuna knew beneath them lay an eternity of passionate blue. The same eyes she had looked into in the Farplane, filled with regret and longing for his lover. Lenne.  
  
Lenne. The memory of the beautiful songstress snapped her back into reality. 'That must be it.' She thought with a cold scolding for looking at him that way. 'Lenne's feeling must have somehow gotten mixed with mine and...but she's gone now. How is _he_ back anyway?'  
  
Scowling sharply at both herself and his sudden appearance, Yuna shook her head and continued to heal the damaged skin. A clap of thunder shook the woman from her ambitious rejuvenating, followed by a flash of lightning. Yuna, startled slightly, jumped from her spot and scrambled backwards.  
  
"I'm not afraid of lightning what's wrong with me...?" Yuna stuttered with a slight laugh. "Just thunder is all. I feel like Rikku."  
  
As soon as she started back towards Shuyin, another roar of the storm shook her and sent her backwards into a plant. Shutting her almond shaped eyes, she curled herself into a ball and decided to wait it out since the lightning was now hitting the water. The thought of leaving Shuyin un- protected bothered her deeply, but risking _her_ life wouldn't help either.  
  
Furious lightning flashed around them in an entity of light and heat. The temperature wasn't nearly as bad as the smell, the smell that made Yuna's unhealthy abdomen growl. The unwanted fragrance of distorted eggs and putrid urine clouded around the beach, filling Yuna's nose. Yuna gasped and threw herself onto the plant to support her trembling legs, tossing her stomach's contents along with it.  
  
Abruptly, a pair of cerulean optics fluttered open with a shifting of his body. Shuyin sat up with a slight difficulty, before gazing down at his arms-still covered in faint bruises.  
  
'Who...'  
  
His blurred gaze fell upon the cowering woman underneath the plant, her feathery brown hair draping over her shoulders creating a curtain. His tense features softened and his fists unclenched, as he watched the woman with fascination.  
  
'Lenne.'  
  
Standing to his well-built height, the golden haired man advanced towards the shivering brunette with a dispersing smile tearing at the edges of his mouth. Without the slightest warning, he kneeled down beside her and clasped her within his arms in an almost loving embrace.  
  
Her nausea was put on hold for a few moments before it returned with the uneasy feeling she had felt earlier. Her mind furiously tried to pinpoint whose arms she was resting in when she awkwardly looked up into the face of her possessor.  
  
'Shuyin...?'  
  
Questionably she craned her arm to the ground and shifted her hips slightly so she could catch his face clearly. Shuyin rejected her suspicion and placed his hands onto her hips, tilting her to the side.  
  
Yuna's surprise was fueled by this and grew larger, taking her up into a whirlwind of emotions. He ran his hands through her silky chestnut locks of hair and inhaled the fragrance of her warm body.  
  
'Strange. Lenne, you always smelled of lavender. Now you smell of vanilla...odd.'  
  
Despite her change, he pulled away from the woman as a sincere smile crept across his face.  
  
"I am glad that you are safe, my love." He whispered softly into her ear. "My Lenne."  
  
A gasp of innocence escaped Yuna's petrified lips and evaporated into the air. He had called her yet by another woman's name, their second occurrence in which this had happened. Why had this happened to her again? She wondered as the familiar wave of unsettlement returned to her stomach.  
  
"But I am not Lenne," she replied, keeping her gaze far from his piercing one.  
  
"You ran from that horrid beast. That son of a bitch almost destroyed us yet again but we made it, Lenne. We made it. But you know... The Farplane is dying, Lenne, everything is gone within it's wretched grasp. This horrible world will never be cleansed but it's the only sanctuary we have now isn't it? "Shuyin rambled on, ignoring Yuna as he began to softly stroke her head.  
  
Yuna blinked. What was he talking about? The Farplane dying, Spira being cleansed, some horrible thing that almost killed him yet again. She didn't understand any of it, was it senseless jabber or his way of making the truth from something? She couldn't tell and eventually her confusion thinned out her mind so it became as blank and fuzzy as a field of Pyreflies.  
  
"Lenne. I protected you this time but at what cost? Does this world wish to harm us again?" he continued, his eyes crinkling at the sides. "I am sorry Lennie. I only wish to make you happy."  
  
Before Yuna could reply by explaining that she was not his Lenne, but another woman of the same appearance, Shuyin took her shoulders and pressed his lips against hers. Instantly her mind became a maze of emotion. It was all happening too fast and she couldn't comprehend why or how.  
  
Shuyin gently pushed Yuna against the tree and what was once an innocent kiss became more passionate. The warm feeling of his tongue against her bruised lips sent a chill of pleasure down her spine; causing her to gasp for breath. With a hint of a smirk, Shuyin plunged his tongue within her mouth and pushed his body against her small, lithe figure.  
  
Puling away for a brief moment he smiled and caressed the side of her cheek subconsciously. Yuna caught a hint of sadness within his familiar eyes and felt herself feeling almost sorry and concerned for him. Hesitating, she smiled back and nodded to him, eventually she worked up the courage to speak but Shuyin once again cut her off.  
  
Fervently, his hands began to work on their own, struggling to untie the straps of her halter. Being caught up in his own moments of happiness, he seemed not to notice Yuna struggling beneath him. Her consciousness had revived itself and was working over-time to put an end to this senseless passion that only Shuyin was feeling. Yuna's emotions were raw and cold, angrier with Shuyin now rather than understanding.  
  
After moments it seemed useless to try and advert him from taking her for his own and she gave up. Soon, her own sobbing broke of the rhythmic kissing Shuyin had been directing and he stopped. Looking down at this cowering woman who seemed almost afraid of him now, his eyes fell upon a crystalline liquid pouring from her eyes.  
  
A sharp pang in his side caused him to jerk his hands away from her body, further leading to him moving backwards away from her.  
  
"Lenne." He started, blinking in confusion. "What's wrong? Don' t you remember me Lenne? You must! Throughout the ages our story has been continued. Throughout the ages my longing has gotten stronger. And throughout the ages the pain I have caused you has grown, but I will heal you now Lenne. Let me help, PLEASE." He begged.  
  
With the sense of courage returning to her, Yuna clenched her fists and looked up at him with a flicker of anger within her widened orbs.  
  
"I am not your Lenne," the gunner stated firmly, feeling the energy within her rise.  
  
"What?" Shuyin gasped, looking oddly at her as if she had suffered some odd concussion.  
  
"I said: I am **NOT** your Lenne!" Every ounce of hatred she had felt before returned along with the feeling of sickness. Suddenly she felt compelled to hurt this man far worse than he had hurt her.  
  
'He deserves pain for being a horrible monster'. She told herself, the negative portion of her overtaking the positive.  
  
"You should recognize your own lover and I am not her! Because of you I am a tainted woman. Now just leave me alone! You're nothing anymore, you failed Lenne and can't even recognize her!"  
  
Shuyin was taken aback from this, Yuna had seemed so calm earlier and now she seemed enraged. Within her the constant battle between kindness and hurtfulness continued as the cloudy miasma returned to poison her thoughts of the blond blitzball player. Feeling her hatred grow, she tuned around and forcefully slapped Shuyin across the face in a swift movement.  
  
Shuyin seemed not shaken at all by her reaction nor her outburst, which angered Yuna even further, therefore causing her to draw her hand up again. As she was about to direct her palm to his cheek, he grabbed her hand and drew her downward. She assumed he was attempting to kiss her again and steadied her reflexes, but Shuyin lifted the hilt of her chin towards her face and paused.  
  
Yuna's gaze shot downward with the final blow of anger, sending her back into the same emotions of pity and understanding as before. Shuyin wrinkled his eyebrows and loosened his keen grip on her hand, settling it down to her side then letting it go.  
  
"Please, woman, look at me." He spoke darkly, restraining a few inches of sadness from his voice.  
  
"W-why d-"  
  
"Just-please-do it."  
  
Obediently the woman looked cautiously into his eyes that were crawling all over her body, pouting her lips in a somewhat confused order. Along with confusion a slight hint of disgust trickled along her face, but immediately vanished when she caught the disappointed look in his eyes. Dropping her chin, Shuyin wearily turned away and stalked back from her.  
  
"It's true. I have failed her for the second time, two times too many." He laughed. "I thought that for the first time I actually did something right for her, saved her from eternal death. The look on her face was unbearable but so beautiful at the same time, fear and panic I guess."  
  
Yuna furrowed her eyebrow and sat down upon the still warm sand that glittered beneath her, motioning for Shuyin to sit beside her. He smiled weakly, his face still etched with sadness, and obeyed.  
  
"I couldn't even accept the fact that you were not her, we have met more than once and I should have know your reaction would be the same. That's when I knew, those words you spoke, 'I'm not Lenne', are so familiar to me now. I never thought I was this stupid-stupid-but not that stupid."  
  
"I shouldn't have-"  
  
"No, no, it's okay. Really I just...I wanted her to be safe from that horrible thing. I told her to run and leave me for her own safety; I thought it would be me who suffered. Instead I failed to protect her again." Shuyin paused for a moment and sighed. "Damn thing! Why does everything have to be so fucking complicated?"  
  
Yuna cringed at his words, reliving for a moment the same horror she had felt back at the village. Smiling weakly at t he blond, she nodded and sympathetically caressed the side of his face with her hand. Shuyin jumped slightly at her sudden touch but relaxed himself when her hand lowered.  
  
"I'm sorry," she apologized, folding her hands behind her back. "I know...how you feel. To lose someone you truly care for because of some action you made. You wish it was you who faded instead of them."  
  
Shuyin blinked at her kindness, something he wasn't expecting. 'Why is she being so...kind to me? After what I put her through she isn't angry with me. Especially considering I was acting like a jerk.'  
  
"......."  
  
"Shuyin I would do anything to help you if I could. Really I would, but I'm not sure what happens after..."  
  
"......."  
  
"Come with me please." She demanded softly, grabbing his hand and gently tugging him away from the plant that had served as a shelter. A short flash of lightning struck the water and sent sparks flying onto the beach but she ignored them. "You need rest after what you did for Lenne and all. You deserve a good meal and some sleep I'm sure."  
  
Shuyin grinned slightly and reluctantly followed so dragging him wasn't necessary.  
  
'She's so much like her...but you shouldn't even begin to compare her to Lenne. She will never be as great as her so just accept it Shu.' Yuna turned around and beamed before releasing his hand and jolting up the perilous climb. 'But maybe...'  
  
His eyes caught wind of a faint bruise that was drawn along the side of her thin arms in the same place as his own wound that had strangely disappeared. She grabbed at her arm and continued, the second she did so his pain no longer remained. Putting on a trademark smirk, he darkness within his mind began to work again along with the cogs that had started to turn.  
  
'I can use her'  
  
Shuyin stopped, waiting to see if the gunner had noticed his halt. When she didn't bother to acknowledge hat he had put pursuing her on hold, he grinned and twisted his ankle to the side on a rock. Yuna's cry of pain delighted Shuyin, causing his sneer to grow as she soothed her ankle and walked on.  
  
'I can save you Lenne, just hold on and give me time. I will not fail you this time. I am back.'  
  
::::::::  
  
"Oh my bloody Yevon what is that?!" Gippal exclaimed, leaning over the decumbent computer surface to get a better view of the sphere screen.  
  
"Beats me!" Rikku chirped, neatly folding her hands behind her head. "Looks like a giant fiend to me!"  
  
"Fiends do _not_ look like that stupid." Gippal mocked, rolling his swirled green eye. "Besides what would a fiend be doing in the Farplane pray tell?"  
  
Rikku scanned the screen from the corner of her eye, examining the cryptic shadow that doomed the Farplane Glen. The raging flames licked the ground, dissolving all forms of life that resided in the persistently tranquil meadows, while a shrill metallic sound shook the speakers on the screen.  
  
"Well I-"Rikku was cut off as the image switched this time to what looked like an ancient living room. Rikku's face screwed itself into a confused expression as she asked, "Who's that?"  
  
The Al Bhed pointed bluntly to a little girl that had appeared on the screen.  
  
_She was a small little girl with chocolate brown hair, huddled by a fireplace, her eyes looked clear and pretty much empty with a willowing sadness within their young grasp. Her head tilted upwards as a tall man with black hair and a warming smile approached her, the youth smiled faintly and jumped into his arms.  
  
The man chuckled and nuzzled the girl's neck, sending her into a fit of giggles. Looking up at the man with a philosophic grin she pointed to the bookcase and bit her tongue  
  
"Yes little Nayru I'll read it to you," the man assured with a wave of his hand. He stood up and hobbled over to the bookcase before taking the sigil- covered book back to the girl. Her eyes brightened to a vibrant hazel color, flecked with honey and cinnamon._  
  
Rikku backed away as the scene changed to one that centered on a tall glittering building that stood fiercely against the ocean; a giant water fountain hovered near by.  
  
_The same female brunette was standing distantly by the ocean, watching the water spill down into a crevasse where many other buildings like the lit-up one were housed. The rest of the water flooded over and was carried away to some other country or city.  
  
The girl, who had appeared to have aged quite a bit-give or take two years, dipped her small fingers into the luminescent liquid that matched the tears falling from her once again clouded eyes. Her thoughts were interrupted by a woman who had come up behind her, placing a hand on her shoulder with an invisible hate.  
  
"Your father was a wonderful man Nayru, remember that always." She spoke in an unattractive tone. "Come now."_  
  
The woman dragged the girl away from the funeral as the screen blacked out into nothingness. Rikku turned around and was about to speak up but yet another scene was triggered, forcing her to go back into watching mode.  
  
_The girl who seemed extremely popular the previous scenes was nowhere to be seen, in her place was a young woman about the age of thirteen standing outside a massive building that read **THEATER**.  
  
Her hair was twisted into a ponytail that hung a few inches below her shoulders; a decorative hairpiece with many beads wove through the elastic from behind her ears. She was dressed in a metallic looking dress with blue tinted see-through sleeves and frill on the edges, shivering like crazy. Her almond shaped optics darted back and forth before she started up the glowing steps. She had almost reached the door when the same woman from before grabbed her hand and jerked her back violently.  
  
"Nayru what are you doing here!?" she screeched angrily, twisting the girl's wrist. "I told you you're never allowed to come outside unless it's for me!"  
  
Nayru flinched from the impulse and nodded weakly; attempting to rip her hand away while the woman's face grew red with frustration.  
  
**"THEN WHY ARE YOU HERE!!??"**  
  
"I'm sorry mother I just..." her small voice trailed off as she looked away, only for the woman to slap her cheek so she faced her again. "I wanted to come here! I love it here and I wish I could stay forever but you won't let me! Why mother? Why can't I just do this one thing for myself instead of what you want?"  
  
Her mother narrowed her eyes in an eerie way at her before throwing her against the wall with a loud 'crack'. She gritted her pure white teeth and kicked Nayru's leg so that it jabbed her in the side. "You will be punished when we get home. Now get up before I punish you here AND at home!"_  
  
Finally after the last scene, the screen faded until the silhouette of the large beast in the burning Farplane re-appeared with malevolent glory. Rikku's face had twisted into a depressing frown as she hopped out of the chair and switched off the machine.  
  
Running her hands down her legs, she slowly bent over and shook her head sadly, Gippal merely watched while trying not to focus his attention on her backside.  
  
"How sad." She finally said after getting into her upright position again. "I wonder who that little girl was and who those people were. Her life sure didn't look very nice."  
  
"That's an understatement." Gippal muttered, sitting lazily on the stairs. "Her life sucked. Though you have a point on who she was, we don't even know why the commsphere showed us that movie."  
  
"If pops treated me like that I'd hate the big meanie even more!" Rikku cried forcefully, ignoring Gippal's thoughts on the situation. "How rude that lady was! I'd probably move in with you or something!"  
  
"Why? 'Cause you just can't get enough of me, eh Cid's little girl?" Gippal jeered, smirking his trademark of mockery.  
  
"Eeeew no! Oui celg sehtat banjand!" Rikku shouted defensively, raising her gloved hands to hide her flaming cheeks.  
  
"Oh come on admit it Cid's girl you love me you looove me!" he teased, clapping his hands together with immaturity.  
  
Rikku returned his child-like behavior by sticking out her tongue. "In your dreams!"  
  
"You sure it isn't the other way around?" Gippal questioned, not daring to hand this argument over to the female Al Bhed. "It sure seems that way by the look on your face!"  
  
"Why you little..."  
  
He grinned and jumped up, rushing at her with a battle cry before tickling her sides. The blond screamed with giggles and begged Gippal to giver her mercy, hugging her sides to protect herself. The leader of the Machine Faction only ignored her cries of help and pushed her down over the side of the stairwell.  
  
Rikku looked up at him, both malachite optics flickering with excitement. Gippal paused and looked at them with intense examination, scanning each swirled emerald carefully. Rikku heaved and stopped laughing for a few moments as Gippal's face drew closer to hers. Feeling the heats rise in her face, Rikku lowered her gloves seeing as it was no use hiding her rabid blush.  
  
He was about to lower his slightly wind chapped lips to her own glossy ones as a high-pitched squeak sounded through the bridge. Both jumped apart and Rikku dashed over to the spherical window like nothing had happened.  
  
Gippal caught the look of panic on her face when she turned back to face him, her restlessness clearly showing.  
  
"It's Yunie!" she cried, jumping into the air with a wave of her hands. "We can't let her find out what we did! Because then...then...THEN!"  
  
"Are you suggesting we figure out what we saw on our own Madame Cid's Girl?"  
  
Rikku smirked.  
  
"That's _exactly_ what I'm suggesting."  
  
::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::  
  
Well I hope you enjoyed that chapter! A lot of Yushin interaction and all (I hope you're happy Kate!) Also the Ripple stuff will probably make Rikku happy since she absolutely loves Gippal. Don't hurt me Rikku! I still say her and  
  
Baralai go good together...ANYWAYS! Until next time! AS THE AL BHED SAY: Yuna fecrac oui ymm dra pac!  
  
::Yuna the Songstress:: 


	6. Some Things Are Better Left Unsaid

**I am really sorry for not updating faster! I had a very bad case of writers block and still do, which is why this chapter is dangerously short. Please forgive! And also my stupid word [processor cut off half of the chapter so I'll have to re-write that an insert it into the next chapter. Which I'll be starting after I put this one up!**  
  
ForeverAnimetress  
  
Thank you! I know, talk about personal space. _huggles Shuyin_   
  
Rinoa21  
  
I'm glad you like it! Arigato!  
  
Kate Willows  
  
Isn't Yushin great? _waves ShuyinYuna flag_ Thanks for the nice review!  
  
SpHeRe HuNtEr RiKkU  
  
I'm sorry Rikku you are right. You and Gippal are meant to be forever and for always. ,, Tidus said that...and thank you Rikku. _runs off sobbing like an idiot_  
  
Dreammergurl2007  
  
In what way? Just kidding! Anyway thanks or the lovely review! _huggletackleglomps_  
  
Charmed Amber  
  
See Rikku, she loves you! I love you too Rikku! glomps Rikku Thank you Amber! Your reviews are appreciated.  
  
Charmed Amber  
  
Oh don't worry there will be...hehehe. I may not be an expert on writing Ripple stuff but I can work it.   
  
kingleby  
  
Domo Arigato!! I luffs you too you're so nice. And why would I want peace with Shuyin around?   
  
kingleby  
  
Really? See Rikku! I'm scoring a lot of points against her right now. XD Thank you again!  
  
kingleby  
  
You're very welcome! Hopefully (later on) Baralai won't be lonely either. Oh the triangle situation is going to be very interesting. I'm going to make it a little different. X3  
  
**Thank you for all the reviews guys! Where would I be without you? Anyway like I said I have extremely bad writers block, which is why my work isn't as good as before. I know the whole plot and all, in fact I wrote the end of the earlier (it made me cry!) but you know those little kinks you have to work out and all...Well thanks for supporting me along the way everyone! On with the show! Er-story...**  
  
,,,,,,,,  
  
Yuna/Tidus  
  
Yuna/Shuyin  
  
Shuyin/Lenne  
  
Lenne/Tidus  
  
Gippal/Rikku  
  
Baralai/Paine  
  
,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,  
  
Eternal Rhapsody  
  
Chapter Six: Some Things Are Better Left Unsaid  
  
:::::::::::::::::::::::  
  
Rikku and Gippal had luckily, surprisingly, escaped being seen and caught by Yuna and her own comrade. After rushing to the deck like maniacs and climbing down the side of the massive airship, escaping with a few scratches, the duo finally arrived on Besaid's topical beach.  
  
"Rikku?" Gippal started hesitantly, looking over the blond who was panting like crazy.  
  
"Yeah?" she replied, looking up and wiping a bead of sweat form her forehead.  
  
Gippal erased his own signs of perspirations and looked back at the airship in which they had just preciously escaped from. Shifting his swirled green gaze back to Rikku he chocked out a frustrated laugh and turned away.  
  
"Remind me never to listen to you again." He paused. "I mean it."  
  
Rikku pouted in response and for a few seconds a hint of disappointment flickered across her big glossy orbs. Gippal either didn't notice the look of slight sadness or ignored it completely because the look he gave Rikku afterwards was one of pure annoyance.  
  
Folding her arms across her chest Rikku started down the beach and back to the spot of the Farplane's entryway, uttering a low "meanie" on her way.  
  
Rolling his eyes towards the sky, the clouds still littered heavily across it, Gippal reluctantly followed.  
  
"Hey Cid's Girl? When you said we'd do this on or own did you mean figuring out how the stupid hole got there in the first place also?" Gippal inquired upon his sudden strike of interest.  
  
Rikku shrugged and leaped over a jagged rock covered with fuzzy moss. "I guess so if that's what doin' this on are own means."  
  
"And how are we going to do that exactly?" Gippal muttered, further pressing Rikku's plans.  
  
It wasn't hat he didn't trust Rikku. He knew his little brat had grown considerable. Just the fact of letting the little blond ball of energy take over was a bit risky in his eyes.  
  
"With a little help from Baralai and Nooj of course!" she explained, letting all the anticipation that she had built up on Gippal fall to the ground.  
  
"Some much for doing it by ourselves, Birthday Girl." Her assistance growled, trying his best to catch up with the hyper blond.  
  
"Heh. It's better than Cid's Girl..." she retorted, shrugging her shoulders.  
  
As soon as the couple reached their spot of interest, Rikku yanked out another one of the mini-commspheres from her belt-pouch.  
  
Ignoring all Rikku had to say to Baralai and Nooj; Gippal sighed and sat down on the opposite side of the abyss hopping to be as far away from Rikku as possible. At the time, all physical contact and verbal interaction with Cid's little girl was anything to make him nervous. He blamed himself partially for not controlling himself around her. Then again, Rikku hadn't walked away either. Did that mean...  
  
"Fweeness!" Rikku squealed, jumping into the air. "They agreed to helping us and they won' tell Yunie."  
  
"What's it to you if your cousin knows?" Gippal wondered, raising his eyebrows in question.  
  
"Don't want her to worry is all. And anyway, we're going to need a lot of help with this. Help that doesn't worry about me."  
  
Scratching the side of her head with a single finger, a habit she had yet to grow out of, Rikku laughed weakly at her proclamation and wandered out of the dingy cave.  
  
Gippal sighed and shook his head at her naïve demeanor, kicking a rock into the hole, waiting for the appropriate sound to signify it had reached the bottom. When no sound made it to his ears, he screwed up his face and leaned over to check and see. The endless black abyss was all that greeted him.  
  
"I hope she knows what she's doing..." he commented to himself, his eye wandering to the bouncy Al Bhed.  
  
"Oi!! Noojster! Baralai! Over here!" Rikku cried, waving her hands furiously over her head at the two approaching men.  
  
Gippal's trust in Rikku was immediately extinguished for her lack of knowledge in what she was doing was painfully obvious.  
  
"On the other hand I'm pretty sure she had no idea..." he muttered, leaning back against the cave wall with exasperation. 


	7. Terra

**In case you didn't notice I am EXTREMELY lazy...I'm so sorry everyone! I've been...busy lately and haven't had much time to write so please forgive me!! I feel so baaad....**

Heh. I'll do review replies in the next chapter, I just wanna get this one started. But first I wanna ask, how many people have played FFVII? And if you have...then how do you feel about Yuffie?

Yuffie: Why would ya wanna ask them a stupid question like that?

Shut up! I'm not in the mood for you right now! I'm still sick...Oh well. On with the show!!

Disclaimer: If I brainwash Square into thinking that I own the world...then Il own Final Fantasy X-2. Too bad I don't...damn!

**xXxXxXxXxXxXxXxX**

Yuna/Tidus Yuna/Shuyin

Shuyin/Lenne

Lenne/Tidus

Gippal/Rikku

Baralai/Paine

**XxXxXxXxX**

Eternal Rhapsody

**XxXxXxXx**

Chapter Seven: Terra

**XxXxXxX**

The second Yuna had lead Shuyin inside the airship, he had immediately started inspecting every mechanical thing inside. A few times, Yuna had to remind him why they were there in the first place, in order protect the machinery from "accidental" malfunction.

They had made it past all the levels of the ship without breaking or destroying anything, but she wasn't sure if she could hold him off any longer. When she finally directed him to the lowest chamber of the gigantic ship, the cabins, he strode in looking for anything to mess with.

"This is where you sleep?" he asked blankly, feeling somewhat unimpressed.

"Used to sleep." She corrected, looking around the area where she used to play around with Rikku on the stage.

"Not very big now is I?" he muttered, raising his eyebrows in question. "My house in Zanarkand was much bigger."

Yuna drew back, slightly alarmed that he could be thinking about things like that at a time like this. Her lips curled into a frown as she bustled past him, stomping up the stairs to the bedding area. She hardly caught the "What?" Shuyin uttered and plopped down on the couch.

"How did you get here anyway...?" she whispered to herself, a hint of sadness trapped within her flickering eyes.

"I'm not so sure myself."

Yuna whipped around, only to face a slightly worried looking Shuyin with his hands in his pockets. She reclined backwards onto the soft pillow and closed her eyes, thinking it over for a few seconds before looking back towards him.

"Perhaps...something in the Farplane has been disturbed?" she suggested, intertwining her hands with a duvet that most likely hadn't been made in months. "The disruption could have caused something to happen..."

"I don't think so," the blond replied, hardly having any idea about what she was rambling about. "The Farplane looked destroyed to me. The last thing I remember was Lenne running off and that huge...whatever it was coming at me."

"Well you couldn't have come here just because." She said simply, her cars on stating the obvious were extremely low. "There had to be some sort of...price...or something."

"None that I know of." He muttered, shrugging her shoulders laxly. "I only hope Lenne is safe."

Yuna bit her lip, coming extremely close to blurting out how someone's soul could be lost forever if something happened to them on the Farplane. She shook the mangled thoughts from her head and looked at the raging Chocobo below.

"I'm sure she's fine. "her monotone almost frightening. "But maybe...if we figure out how you got here then we could get you back!"

"Is that an offer for help?" he asked, folding his arms across his chest stubbornly.

"It is..." she said almost hesitantly. She placed a finger on her chin for a moment then sat up in her original position. "Shuyin, what happened befo-"

She stopped, catching a blurry flash of yellow and blue in the corner of her eye. With a quizzical look upon her face, she stood up and wandered over to the railing. A sharp cracking sound diverted her attention from what was lurking below to something to the left.

"Is there someone on this airship besides us?" Shuyin asked blankly, walking up swiftly behind Yuna.

"Not that I know of." She replied weakly, her fingers automatically reaching for the gun at her side. "Maybe it's just the baby Chocobo brother adopted. Rikku says nobody notices when he's around because he's so small. But I could have sworn it was yo-oh. Never mind..."

Some how she didn't believe herself and became more conscious that something was in there with them. She shrugged it off for the moment and was about to return to her comfortable spot on the couch when another sharp sound interrupted her. This sound wasn't like the previous crash; it was more like the sound of glass being cracked...

"Hey!" Shuyin yelled down to whatever it was. "Shut up you stupid chicken or I'll skin ya!"

Yuna shushed the man, idling drumming her fingers on the railing. She looked to the mirror across the room and stumbled back in surprise. Something had been thrown against it, forming a rather unattractive crack down the center.

"What in Yevon's name...?" Yuna murmured, swiftly making her way to the dresser.

"Well that totally sucks..." Shuyin grumbled, following Yuna with a faint hint of a smirk on his devilish lips.

"Totally sucks?"

"Ah...it's Zanarkanian talk..."

"Oh." Yuna made a face of disgust. "What could have made that?"

"I'd go check, but that freaky red stone right here is taking up my attention." He retorted cockily. The blond pointed a finger at a pendant lying on the ground near the dresser.

Yuna curiously bent down and picked up the brooch form the crown, dangling it from the chain it was attached to. The crimson jewel in the center was framed with a golden brooch, attached to a similar gold chain. The deep ruby flickered in the light above, glinting off the mirror as well as the insignia over Yuna's breast

"What the hell is _that_ thing?" Shuyin asked bluntly, complete disrupting Yuna's inspection of the item

"I'm not sure..." she admitted, dismissing the ignorance that laced his tone. "Looks like some kind of jewel. How weird I never noticed it before now." She paused and stuffed it into the satchel on her waistband. "Probably something Rikku found on an expedition."

"Yeah whatever..." He grinned lazily, an idea popping into his head. He scooted closer to the brunette, who had taken up an obvious discomfort to him the second he moved.

He was about to sling his arm around her bare shoulders when the third disrupting sound emitted from below. Yuna's head snapped backwards. She spotted to figures dashing through the door, shoving one Chocobo out of the way in the process.

"Come on."

She grabbed his and dragged him down the stir sin a rather unorthodox manner. He wasn't surprised that she would do something like this, but he as alarmed that she could pull someone of his weight along so easily. He was slim, but not so lanky that a woman about 50 lbs lighter could drag him so effortlessly.

She released her grip on his wrist as soon as she hit the bottom floor, dashing through the entryway with a grunt. She managed to get to the end of the second hallway with the shadowed figures in sight, but lost track of them as soon as she neared the elevator.

"Where'd they go?" she panted, drawing in breaths of air shortly. "They were just here..."

All that remained was a single pyrefly.

"Hell'd I know. At least we can be sure that there was _someone_ in here and we're _not_ completely insane."

She scowled furiously, bypassing his childish jokes with a shove into the wall. He flinched and rubbed his shoulder, watching as she stormed off towards the elevator with her fists balled at her sides.

Shuyin followed Yuna silently until they exited the massive aircraft, in which he decided to at least make a stab at conversation.

"I just miss her you know?" He laughed slightly, treading through the semi-shallow water after her. "She was everything to me..."

"I can understand." Yuna said heartily, her mood seemed to have lightened considerably. "He means everything to me as well."

"Ah," Shuyin chuckled boyishly, climbing onto a muddy sandbar between a rock and a tide pool. "Milady has a lover?"

Yuna snarled at his attempt at humor, not finding the situation to be funny in the least. Perhaps she was too grown up for her own good. "He's from Zanarkand like you are..."

"Really?" Shuyin blinked, slightly perturbed by this news. "What's his name?"

"Tidus."

"Oh." He shook his head; the name didn't register anything in his mind so it was shrugged off. "You're half Al Bhed right?"

"Yes. I am."

"Did you know Lenne was halfblooded, as well?" He paused, a serious expression bestowing itself upon his face. "Only she was not Al Bhed. She was part Terra."

Yuna stopped, looking at the jungle that lay ahead of them with partial interest in the odd motions of the palm trees. "What's Terra? I've never heard of that race before."

Shuyin snorted. "Terra were considered extinct thousands of years before _my_ time...That's probably why you haven't heard of them." He stretched and headed in the direction of the ruins, kicking rocks along the beach as he did so.

"The Terra were the first people to establish working communities on Spira. They were one of the best working races on the whole planet, brought civilization to it's peaking point."

"The thing is, the Terra had properties that normal humans didn't. Their blood was comprised of a substance that kept them alive longer, gave them magical abilities at birth." He scratched behind his ear, helping Yuna over a jagged rock in the ground. "They devised a simple system of life and death to keep their kind from dying out."

Yuna interrupted, looking up at a toucan flying about the canopy. "I thought they were extinct though. Why would they die out if their plan was against that in general?"

"That's not the type of question to ask." Shuyin narrowed his cool blue eyes into slits, pointing his finger at her like a weapon. "You didn't let me finish little miss." He watched Yuna squirm slightly, smirking triumphantly as she did so. She noticed how his attitude was somewhat like Tidus'. And this bothered her.

"They created a system called 'The Soul Repentanc Sacrifice'." He explained, showing his way through the dense underbrush. "When a person of the Terra clan would die, the would be sent to the Farplane by what they called 'Forgivers'."

"Summoners."

Shuyin nodded solemnly, affirming what she had thought. "Well the Terra came up with a way of reusing life. Kind of a recycling kind of thing. Say, for example, a loved one had died and they were an important part of your particular clan?" Yuna nodded. "They would find a sacrificial person, willing to give up their life energy, and that particular person would be revived for the time being."

He smirked evilly. "Every amount of pain the revived would feel for the one month period of the moon was transferred to the subject of sacrifice. Until finally their life was drained completely and they died. The person whom was revived would gain full life and the process started all over again."

Yuna furrowed her brow, sitting down on a mossy rock to sooth her legs that were suddenly aching. "So what went wrong?"

Shuyin shrugged, plopping down on the ground next to her, looking up at the waterfall to their left. He relaxed his arms and let the droning sound of falling water loosen his tense muscles.

"Now _**that**_ is the kind of question to ask."

**XxXxXxXxXxX**

"So all you saw on the sphere was a woman and a girl?"

"Well there was more than that but it's kind of hard to explain!"

"Yevon, you blonde, will you make up your mind? It's either there was more-or that's it!"

"Shut up Gippal!"

Baralai sighed with exasperation. They had been going through this for almost ten minutes now and Rikku refused to give the whole story. Let alone find the words to do so. Gippal seemed to be making matters worse by provoking the young Al Bhed with his witty comments. Both he and Nooj were finding themselves extremely irritated.

"Rikku where's the commsphere right now?" Nooj asked in a familiar monotone, his face blank and expressionless.

She blinked then motioned to the abyss to her left. "Down there."

"Well **duh**." Gippal snorted, throwing a rock at her boots, only for her to squeak and dodge it. "Can't we just trace the frequency waves back to the original source? It'd be easier than getting her royal _**blondness**_ to tell you..."

"You meanie stay out of this!" she retorted, kicking the rock at Nooj who simply bypassed it. "What do you know anyway?"

"A hell of a lot more than you do, that's for sure!"

"Hey, hey, hey." Nooj scolded, relieving himself from the burden of sitting down. "You two are arguing more than usual, is there something wrong?"

"NO!!" they shouted in unison.

Baralai rubbed his temple gently, hoping to conceal the headache coming along, starting out of the cave. "Gippal's idea would be convenient. Wise." He nodded as the other silently followed him. "How can we do this Gippal?"

He grinned, ignoring the motion Rikku made in sticking her tongue out at him. "A simple computer's all we need. I can access the wiring system from anywhere."

"I think I know where we should go." Baralai ended, glad to have ended the argument between the childish half of the tag-team.

**XxXxX**

Gippal had leaded the group to the section of the island where he, Nooj, and Baralai had docked at the oncoming of Rikku's party. The boat was still floating in a pool of lukewarm water, the soft currents sloshed it between two rocks.

"This?" Rikku said with nothing short of disgust. "Is your brilliant plan? It's a **BOAT**."

"I know that!" Gippal snarled, shoving her into the boat. "_But_! This is no ordinary boat..."

"No. It's a piece of crap."

"Cid's girl can you keep quiet for _one_ measly second?" he cried, throwing his hands into the air. "The commsphere connection is linked to the airship right?"

"Yes." All three occupants confirmed, their faces twisted into a similar glare.

"Well then all we gotta do is make it to the operational cavity in the _back_ of the airship...and we're home free!"

'So what you're saying is if we get into that room then we can locate where the movie you and Rikku saw movie came from?" Nooj asked, raising an eyebrow above his tinted glasses.

"Heh. Yeah."

Rikku growled, doing a mighty fine impression of a dog while doing so. "Enlighten me. When we _do_ find out what are gonna do, hmmm?"

"Go to where it says, stupid...." Gippal explained, starting the hover boat with a grunt.

"But Yunie'll freak out!" she screeched, her apathetic attitude abandoned for the time being.

"Ah, but Yuna is never going to find out is she?" Gippal smirked and climbed into the drivers seat at the head of the semi-large boat.

"You're so mean, Gippal." Rikku pouted, folding her arms under he breasts.

They reached the cavity, sure. But after another lengthy ten minutes –which seemed to Baralai like ten HOURS- of the bickering couple, they hadn't yet found a way to get inside from the back of the airship.

Of course, they had no knowledge that Yuna wasn't exactly _on_ the airship any longer. This was a problem considering it would be easier to get in from _inside_ the actually door rather than hacking a hole into the back of the ship. Which was exactly what they decided to do.

"Come on Gippal! You're weak!" Rikku mocked, watching the leader of the Machine Faction ram a nightstick into the solid iron. "Harder!"

Gippal stopped and turned around to face her, holding the nightstick above his head with a menacing look on his face. "If you don't **SHUT UP** I'm gonna shock you with this. So shut up!"

"Well actually Gippa-"

"I said shut up!"

"But Gippal there's a-"

"Rikku keep your mouth shut!"

"There's an emergency lever right there, dammit!" Rikku pointed angrily to a small latch next to Gippal that read: Emergency Lever.

After getting over the feeling of stupidity, he swallowed his pride and let the others in. Rikku wormed her way through the wires and cables of the main system with no trouble seeing as she was tiny. Although it was no problem for her, the men had to climb a ladder located on the eastern wall of the massive room.

Reaching the main control system first, Rikku proudly smirked and looked around the warehouse-like room. Gippal came next followed by Baralai, then Nooj, who had some problems getting up to the platform with a machina operated leg.

"After you get into the mainframe goes for Shinra's files." Gippal directed, as Rikku stood typing and scrolling furiously at the gigantic control panel.

"I'm in..." she murmured, using her fingertips to operate the main screen. "Now let me connect..."

Gippal waited anxiously, silently drooling over her ability to work this piece of machina without so much as a manual. It was enough that he would get the time to spend with her, searching for the unknown little girl, but standing so close to her while she was...He shook his head angrily, erasing al fond memories of the younger girl from his mind with a mental slap.

"There." Rikku's thrilled expression had been replaced by one of seriousness while Gippal had been daydreaming. She pointed to a small number in the corner of the luminescent file.

"There's our next stop." Baralai said quietly, working on memorizing the coordinates it provided. "We should head out right now..."

Rikku bit her lip, a stab of guilt coming over her for not telling her cousin about any of this. She was beginning to re-consider when Nooj tapped her shoulder and motioned to the back door which was still hanging open.

"Let's go."

She nodded.

"Hey, Rikku." Baralai started as soon as they were outside. His eyes were glued to Gippal who was trying to work the hovering vehicle yet again, his eyes held a somewhat empty feeling. "Where was that Tidus man from again?"

Rikku jumped back in slight surprise. She had forgotten all about Tidus in the rush of things.

"Zanarkand." She replied, eyes glancing up as the rumbling engine broke the silence. "Why ya wanna know?"

"Because that's where we're headed."

**XxXxXxXxXxXxXx**

******Yep! That's your crappy chapter or today! I promise I'll have the next one up REALLY soon since my writers block is mostly gone. Heh. I said that before and it didn't happen, but this time I swear it will. **

**Anyway might as well get some sleep...school tomorrow. But luckily I've gotta handle on homework so the next chappie will be up soon! isn't letting us use _anything__ to divide parts of the story anymore is it? I had to use "X"'s for Gods sakes!_**

**Don't forget to R 'n' R!**

**JA NE FOR NOW!**

**By the way...this is the last time I'm changing my username I swear!! XD**


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